


Song of Jaune

by Bubbajack



Category: BioShock Infinite, Code Geass, Dark Tower - Stephen King, Fallout: New Vegas, Gundam SEED, Mass Effect Trilogy, NieR: Automata (Video Game), RWBY, Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Jaune Arc, F/M, He will never be just a memory, Jaune has a nice quad, Jaune has guns, Jaune is OP & OOC but its justified, Jaune met Dr. WHO in New Vegas, Krogans are cool, Multi, SOLDIER Jaune, Wrex is awesome, cyborg Jaune, one winged angel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:09:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 25,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27585236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bubbajack/pseuds/Bubbajack
Summary: On the fieldtrip to Forever Fall, Jaune fell through a 'thinny' a tear between worlds. He goes through several different types of hell to get home but he finally manages it... "Wait, what's this? Why is Vale overrun by Grimm? Why is the CCT Tower gone? What's with that fuckin' ugly statue?"... "Whatdaya mean Rubes can petrify Grimm? An' she didn't bother to kill the damn thing before she left?!  Maidens? Fairytales?"... "Right so everything's basically gone to shit while I left? Well, I 'was' hoping for a bit of peace and quiet when I got back, but... I guess its true what they say. War... War never changes."Starts in Season Five and diverges from there. OP & OOC Jaune. Very good reason for that though. Jaune Harem.
Relationships: Commander White (NieR: Automata) x James Ironwood, Craig Boone x Liara T’Soni, EDI x Joker, Elizabeth (Bioshock/Jaune Arc, Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian, Ilia Amitola x Veronica Santangelo, Jaune Arc/ Devola & Popola, Jaune Arc/ Nunnally vi Britannia/ Euphemia li Britannia, Jaune Arc/ Rose of Sharon Cassidy, Jaune Arc/ Tali'Zorha vas Normandy, Jaune Arc/ Tifa Lockheart/ Aerith Gainsborough/ Yuffie Kisaragi, Jaune Arc/ Vette (Star Wars)/ Ashara Zavaros (Star Wars), Jaune Arc/2B (NieR: Automata & 2A (NieR: Automata), Jaune Arc/Fiona Thyme, Jaune Arc/Melanie Malachite/Miltiades Malachite, Jaune Arc/Neopolitan, Jaune Arc/Penny Polendina, Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos, Jaune Arc/Sienna Khan, Jaune Arc/Team RWBY, Jaune Arc/Velvet Scarlatina, Lacus Clyne/ Cagalli Yula Athha/ Jaune Arc, Maria Calavera x Raul Tejada, Roland Deschain/ Winter Schnee, Walter o'Dimm/Salem (RWBY)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 50





	1. Ch.1: A Knight Returns

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I’m only gonna say this once. I do not claim any ownership of the following: Fallout New Vegas, Final Fantasy VII, Gundam SEED, Mass Effect, Nier Automata, Code Geass, Star Wars, or The Dark Tower. They all belong to their respective owners. With that said, let’s get on with the show!

**Song of Jaune**

**By: Bubbajack**

**Beta/Co-author: Icysnowsage and Heliosion**

**Ch.1: A Knight Returns.**

Forever Fall. A forest within the confines of the Kingdom of Vale named such due to the permanently crimson leaves due to the sap of its trees. Even as snow covered the ground in a layer of purest white, the trees were still covered in crimson foliage. The forest was silent and still, no birds chirped, there were no howling calls of Beowolves, not even an Ursa tearing at the bark of the trees to get at the sap within. Thus, nothing was around when a cloud of green smoke and flashing lights appeared, and four people stepped out of the fog. 

The first was a masculine figure bedecked head to toe in olive drab combat armor, with tan plates covering his knees, shoulders and forearms. The right arm of his armor from his shoulder to his wrist covered in a red stripe along with the logo of N7, while covering his head was a skeletal metal mask with copper wiring keeping the toothless rictus grin in place. On his back was a sleeveless black jacket that had the image of a two-headed bear on it. Also on the jacket were numerous straps for carrying the many blades he had on his person as well as a pair of pistols on his hips.

The main blade had it’s handle was of vibrant yellow sandalwood whose scent lingered on the cold breeze, as the blade made of blue-grey metal had a yellow rose upon the hilt, along with stylized scrollwork spelling out the word ‘White’. While lower down slung diagonally at either side, were a pair of serrated swords, with a simple machete looking weapon hanging low near his waist. While on his hips in makeshift holsters two folded up butchers cleavers sat, their handles folded over the back edge of the blades, waiting for deployment. The other blades surrounding the main blade were made out of a silvery looking metal one might mistake for stainless steel at first glance. Through the red eyes of his ghoulish skeletal mask with a rictus-like grin held in place by bits of copper wire, the futuristic Ranger looked around. “I think this is it Juliet! Hell I know it is!” He pointed to a jutting rock, “There’s the  _ damn rock  _ I tripped over after killing that Ursa that caused this whole mess in the first place!”

The first of the Ranger’s companion, a pale girl with her silver hair in a bob cut who was garbed in a little black dress that not only clung to her curves but also had a boob window that tantalizingly showed off her generous bust, thigh high sable stockings included a visor over eyes, and black heels which put her still only up to chest height to the Ranger and curtly replied. 

“Sir, we’ve been over this, please refer to me as 2B.” Floating behind her back were two swords, an ivory white katana, and a massive hunk of metal with a lion’s head motif near the curving head of the blade.

“But Juliet, 2B or not 2B, that is the question, no?” The Ranger retorted a chuckle in his tone.

“No,” She replied flatly. The Ranger could  _ feel _ her deadpan glare through her blindfold. “It’s really not.”

The Ranger just laughed at her flat rebuke. Before he swept his gaze around the clearing.

“What’s wrong sir?” the begrudgingly named Juliet asked.

“The Cross Continental Transmit System Tower. Even from here, you should be able to see it, it's huge.” He said pointing off into the distance where even from here in a frosted over Forever Fall, the outline of the CCT tower should’ve been visible against the sky. Yet it wasn’t there. Something was definitely wrong. The Ranger looked to his partner, and held out his hand, “We need to move!”

The second of his companions spoke up then. A woman garbed in a white dress that had a slit that went all the way up to her right thigh with a riding crop hanging from her belt slung across her hips. Her green eyes were cool and calculating and her blonde asymmetrical tresses hung down longer on the left side of her face than the right as she spoke. “Sir, we should investigate and if possible render aid.”

The final member of the quartet scoffed. She was tall, buxom, with silver hair roughly shorn short and light blue eyes wearing a ripped black dress, torn stockings, and black heels. “You mean like you helped me by abandoning me and labeling me a traitor?”

“Alice!” The Ranger snapped at the belligerent woman, “Now is _ not _ the time to bicker with Gwynevere, we’ve got a possible situation on our hands. Juliet, with me, Alice, Gwyn, Alice, split up and do what you can.”

Juliet took his hand and nodded. “Understood.”

His arm glowing in blue-white light, the Ranger tossed the women into the air, and leapt after them soon afterwards catching Juliet in his arms as the pair of them rocketed towards Vale with Gwynevere and Alice trailing just behind them.

**(...)**

As the duo flew over the city of Vale, the ranger let out a hiss through his teeth. For Grimm roamed the streets. From the main thoroughfare to the back alleys. Packs of Beowolves, along with other more exotic Grimm he’d never seen before. Bipedal stub tailed giant lizards, ape-like Grimm, and to top it all off, a giant ass wyvern statue was sitting on top of the now clearly broken CCT Tower and it looked to be spawning Grimm? __

_ ‘Okay, seriously, what ‘the actual fuck’ happened while I was gone?’  _ The Ranger thought to himself. He glanced at his partner. “2B, take out the Beowolves, go for the Alpha’s first that’ll put the pack in disarray, I’ll handle the Ursa’s and whatever the fuck the rest of these things are. A2, and White, take out any Grimm bigger than a truck, and keep them off our six.”

“Understood.” The three gynoids knew this situation was serious for the Ranger only ever called them by their proper designations when the situation was dire. 

Without any further preamble, the Ranger tossed the former YoRha operative at the closest pack of Beowolves while he drew the first blade off his back and angled himself towards an Ursa Major, diving down like a bird of prey through the sky, he drove his blade through its throat, before tearing it out, letting them shatter like so much glass, before he hopped off it and drew one of the pistols from holster at his side, drawing his big iron and took aim.

**_“Remember kid, a Gunslinger does not aim with his hand, he aims with his eye.”_ **

“I remember Roland.” The Ranger muttered as he took aim at another charging Ursa, this one an Ursa Minor, and squeezed the trigger, blowing its head to bits as more of his mentor's words echoed through his mind.

**_“Don’t shoot with your hand, shoot with your mind. Visualize where you want the bullet to go, then squeeze the trigger and send it on its way.”_ **

With every pull of the trigger, and blue flash of the muzzle, more Grimm fell to the ranger’s onslaught. He blasted the arms off a Beowulf Alpha, shot the wings off those griffin looking things, crippling them and removing the Grimm’s air superiority, and getting the occasional headshot on a Ursa when he could hear heads exploding. As the fight wore on, the Ranger drew his blades from his blade, coating them in a blue-white glow before snapping them to the main blade forming a massive single edged blade. With the Hollow Blade in his left hand and the completed sword in his right, before launching himself at his foes with a front flip.

**_“Do not kill with your gun. Kill with your heart. Make your heart as hard as any bullet you fire or the iron of your very sword, and do what needs to be done. Fail in any one of these tasks and you will have forgotten the faces of those you fight for, and the reason you fight.”_ ** The final line of the Gunslinger's creed and its meaning as he swung his buster sword Deschain into the hoard of Grimm, first down then across, splitting a Griffin in half with the downward slash before finishing his cutting flurry of cuts and taking out several lesser Grimm in the process.

Hearing an explosion off to his left, he glanced back to see 2B getting flung through a building, a King Taijute quickly following behind her as Pod 042 did his best to provide her with covering fire from the two-headed serpent Grimm. He felt anger bubble up from within him. Anger at himself for not seeing the bigger threat while airborne, for letting his partner be put in such a dangerous position. 

He took a breath. _ ‘Don’t let your anger run away with you. Harness it, control it,’ _ He told himself.  _ ‘Just like you were taught.’  _

So thinking, he charged the King Taijitu, his body covered in a blue-white glow and his armor further reinforced by plates of metal that glowed bright orange and floated millimeters above word beginning to glow with golden energy as he closed in. The two headed snake reared its heads at him hissing menacingly. He blitzed the heads down, and as he neared the heads, the black one snapped out at him, fangs gleaming. Jaune held out his hand and released an electric shock from his palm that stunned the Grimm, giving him just enough time to leap frog from one head to the other before he brought his now gleaming golden sword, and cut the two headed serpent in half bifurcating it at the stomach, with Braver, and causing crimson mist to spew from its insides before its entire body went up in smoke.

Turning to his partner, he asked worriedly. “Are you okay Juliet?”

The gynoid rose to her feet and nodded. “Yes, I’m fine, thank you… I’m sorry you had to use a Braver to protect me, sir.”

Jaune shook his head. “Don’t ever apologize for needing help. Everyone needs it from time to time. Lord knows I needed plenty in my day.”

2B nodded a ghost of a smile on her face. “Right.”

An explosion went off in the distance, drawing the attention of them both and causing the Ranger to sigh, “We’d better go see what Gwyn and Alice are up to, and make sure they’re actually killing Grimm and not each other.”

“Suggestion,” Pod 42 said, “Do not let Commander Gwynevere and A2 Alice fight together.”

The ranger chuckled beneath his helm, “Yeah that would be a good idea but nine times out of ten if you force people who don’t like each other to work together, they usually end up getting along.”

“Inquiry,” Pod 42 spoke again, “What about the remaining ten percent of the time Commandant?”

“They kill each other.” The Ranger said with a shrug as another explosion went off in the distance. He sighed, “We’d better hurry and make sure that’s  _ not _ happening.” The Ranger made his way towards the explosions with 2B following hot on his heels.

**(...)**

YorHa Attack Unit No.2 aka A2 or Alice as the Commandant deigned to call her, was doing what she was good at… that is to say, killing things. These Creatures of Grimm, these enemies of Humanity that the Commandant told them about, to have purpose and direction once again… A2 had never felt more alive! Even as the skull of a bear-shape Grimm caved in from her punch. Bum Rushing a two-headed snake, A2 had just given another bear Grimm, an Ursa she believed they were called, a one two combo consisting of a left hook and a right uppercut that made its head fly off when she noticed the commander out of the corner of her eye.

Saber in one hand and whip in the other, White or Gwynevere as the Commandant hailed her danced gracefully amongst a flock of small black birds, deftly dodging aside as they swooped at her, pecking at her eyes, only for her to slash at them with her sword, wasting no movement as she removed wings, heads or outright bifurcated some in the horde, seeming to dance on her feet as she dealt death in all directions at once.

Suddenly she was smacked into a building, due to being distracted. Landing amidst a now ruined desk and pulling herself out of the splinters and chips of wood, A2 cursed to herself under her breath, “Fuck that hurt! Thank goodness the Commandant unlocked my aura.”

Her red aura flashed briefly before she glanced at her Pod, 142, that floated up to her, and spoke in a feminine monotone, “Suggestion: Dodge.”

“Thanks for that, Pavlov.” 2A snarked before she glared down at the monochrome serpent which hissed up at her, menacingly. 

Aura flaring like a red hot coal, A2 activated her semblance. Her eyes going red, she engaged her Berserker mode, lacking the typical self destruct sequence of the B model YorHa models and beyond. That along with her Semblance of Rage Based Physical Empowerment, made her a true berserker on the battlefield. She leaped down at the King Taijitu with a furious yell peeling from her lips, as she reared back her right fist as she descended from the hole in the second story of the store she’d been smacked into her gauntleted hand impacting with the bone covered skull of the King Taijute with such force that it caved in on impact. 

Yet the Grimm was not done, for it had another head, one not covered by bone plates. It snapped and hissed at her, yet empowered by both her Berserker Mode, and her Semblance, to A2, the Grimm seemed to be moving in slow motion, she almost casually walked up to it and backhanded it ripping off its lower jaw in the process before tearing off its bottom fangs, and impaling them in the eyes with them. It all happened in a matter of seconds but to 2A, it was moments. Then, her Semblance, and the Berserker Mode it was tied to both deactivated, and the android found herself huffing, the major drawback of her Semblance kicking in. 

Due to the fact it was tied to her Berserker Mode, which already overclocked her systems, and her Semblance allowed her to take it even further for a limited amount of time, once her aura ran out, she was a sitting duck. No aura to protect her, with her internal circuits and servos pushed to the point of breaking down…  _ ‘The Commandant called me a glass cannon. Strong but fragile he said.’ _

“Internal structural integrity at sixty percent,” Pod 143 stated. “Recommend replacement of phalanges in both hands, as well as left knee, and right foot joint and servos.”

“Tch, shit. Stupid fucking semblance. The Commandant isn’t gonna be happy about this. Probably gonna rip me a new asshole,” A2 ‘ _ Alice’  _ she reminded herself as she cursed.

As if speaking about him summoned him, the Commandant appeared on the scene, with 2B in tow. He looked around, seeing the remains of Grimm turning into so much smoke, before barking out, “White, sitrep.”

“Sir, enemies have all been rendered silent sir!” White replied crisply, coming to attention as she did so.

The Ranger saluted back. “At ease Gwyn.” Suddenly, the soldier spun on his heel, blade in hand as a Sabyre pounced at him, only for it to be suspended in midair by a pink aura. Wasting no time, the ranger sliced the head off the Grimm with his main blade and turned to see a blonde-haired woman in glasses wearing a slightly torn and tattered white dress, her thigh-high boots were scuffed, and her usually immaculate blonde hair was in a messy bun rather than the tight stern bun he remembered her keeping it in, and there were black circles under her eyes framing her glasses. Glyna Goodwitch looked haggard, like she had seen better days. Still the Ranger couldn’t keep the smile out of his tone as he commented, “You're looking a bit rough there Mrs. Goodwitch.”

The woman blinked at him owlishly for a moment before asking, “I’m sorry, but have we met? Your voice sounds slightly familiar, but I can’t quite…”

“Ah, sorry…” the man reached up and removed his mask, causing the former combat instructor to gasp.

“Mr… Mr. Arc?! Is that  _ really  _ you?” She asked, not believing her own eyes to the point she took off her glasses and cleaned them on her tattered cape before placing them back on the bridge of her nose.

It was him alright. He was standing there, his face missing baby fat, his jaw now chiseled, blue eyes bemused yet sharp, his blonde hair was slicked back on his head, except for this one strand that hung down in front of his face. He’d also grown a neat military-style mustache on his face. It was finely cut into two blonde squares on his upper lip. In fact, she looked at his bearing; he held himself straight and confident with his helmet under one arm. It was clear to her Arc had served in some form of military outfit. 

She didn’t care about any of that at the moment as she moved forward and pulled the young man into a hug with both arms. She felt him tense for a moment, likely in surprise, before he slowly snaked his arms around her. She didn’t blame him. She wasn’t exactly known for being… affectionate when he’d known her. Holding him at arm's length she smiled a bit and said, “It’s good to see you again Mr. Arc.”

Smiling cockily, he replied, “Mr. Arc is my father. Please, call me Jaune, Mrs. Goodwitch.”

Returning his smile with one of her own, Glynda replied, “Then Glynda please. I insist. I wasn’t your teacher long enough for you to be so formal.”

Breaking away from her embrace, Jaune countered, “You were for a good three months.”

The former teacher shook her head. “Not nearly long enough,” The older blonde looked away guiltily, but soon cleared her throat. “But we should probably speak someplace safe, and I’m sure we both have questions for one another.”

Placing his mask back on his head, Jaune nodded. “Yeah, you could say that. Lead the way.”

* * *

Of all the things the ranger expected, he did not expect to be led into the damn sewers underneath Vale. He and his team followed his former professor through twisting passageways of slimy cobblestones, with a rank stench in the air until they came to a cistern that was bustling with people running a makeshift town. Humans, Faunus, young and old, all were bustling through small cramped buildings made of plywood and drywall, children in ragged dirty clothes ran around, while adults worked to build more ramshackle housing, usually dangerously and precariously on top of one another. 

_ ‘The bunk beds in Team RWBY’s doom look more stable than some of those buildings,’ _ Jaune thought to himself as he followed Goodwitch down a narrow flight of stone steps into the cistern proper.

As they approached, some children a mix of human and Faunus ran up to Glynda and grabbed her skirt. “Did you manage to find any food Mrs. Goodwitch?” A young blonde girl in a tattered dress asked.

“Did ya smack the Grimm around for us?” a Faunus boy with Dalmatian ears asked excitedly.

“Vino!” the girl complained, “If we don’t get food and stuff, we’ll starve, or freeze to death. Beating up Grimm isn’t all that important at the moment.”

“Well, it's kinda important Maize,” the Faunus boy countered, “The scavenging parties can’t search for food and stuff with Grimm around can they?”

“I guess…” The girl, Maize trailed off.

Another girl, a little older with black hair and tanned skin and a boy who could be her twin spoke up. “Sorry Maize and Vino Mrs. Goodwitch.” She motioned to Jaune and his companions, “Who are these people? Friends?”

“Yes, Chipotle, they are, and it's fine. This,” She motioned to Jaune, “Is a former student of mine. He and his companions weren’t around for the Fall or Blackout Day and wish to know what’s going on.”

Chipotle looked him over, before crossing her arms and pouted saying, “So you're the one who stirred up the Grimm huh?”

“I’m the one who killed the Grimm, lil missie,” Jaune replied easily.

Her male twin shook his head and replied, “It doesn’t matter Mister, as long as that statue is around where Beacon used to be, more Grimm’ll just keep showing up. Ouch!” He said this as Glynda gave his cheek a pinch.

“You’ve been eavesdropping again,” Glynda noted with distaste.

Chipotle sighed. “Nice going Qdoba.” She then glared at the stern former deputy Headmistress of Beacon. “Yeah, and why shouldn’t we? No one’ll tell us anything just because  _ we’re kids _ .”

A hand landed on the preteen’s shoulder. Everyone looked to see a rather short girl with long fluffy pink and brown hair, with white streaks running through it, and eyes that seemed to switch between brown, pink, and white on the fly. She was wearing a bowler cap on her head, a white half-jacket over a brown corset, her black pants were slightly torn on the left leg, and she had thigh high boots with black buttons. She was leaning on a closed parasol like it was a cane, hinting she might have some mobility issues.

“Big sis!” Chipotle said nervously.

The older girl silently glared at the younger causing her to squirm in place and look down at the soaked stone floor contritely. “Sorry Miss Goodwitch.”

“It’s alright dear, as for not telling you well… we don’t want you or anyone else to worry, as worry begets negativity which could in turn draw the Grimm to us here.”

Chipotle tensed then rapidly nodded. She looked up when the silent older girl squeezed her shoulder, then jerked her head behind her. “Okay Big sis. C’mon everyone let’s go play.”

The kids ran off leaving the adults alone. The mute looked at Glynda contritely bowing her head in embarrassment. 

Glynda gazed at her coolly. “You have _ one _ job Neo, and that is to keep an eye on the children. So, do  _ try _ to keep an eye on the children away from the pavilion when the meetings are taking place please.”

Neo nodded meekly before cocking her head to the side and pointing at Jaune, and raising a quizzical eyebrow. 

Pointing at himself Jaune said, “Me? I’m Jaune Arc. I’m… The guy who makes the impossible possible. Or so I’ve been told on multiple occasions,” Thumbing behind him he added, “These are my teammates, Gwynevere, Juliet, and Alice.”

Neo blinked at that. She then looked at Goodwitch, who shrugged. The older blonde spoke then. “Jaune if you would please follow me to the pavilion, I can brief you on our current situation.”

Okay… seeya around Neo. Good luck with the munchkins,” he said, giving her a wave as he passed her by which she silently returned.

* * *

The Pavilion was just a giant canvas tent housing a rickety wooden table that had a map of Remnant pinned to it, some equally shabby tables, and a cot in one corner. The place was kept lit by some simple lanterns hanging in the corners. Glynda took a seat at the head of the table and motioned for him and his companions to take a seat. The taciturn woman silently noted none of the other three made to move until Jaune himself sat down, and even then, one decided to stand arms folded directly behind him while the other two took a seat on either side of him.  _ ‘They’re in a defensive triangle formation around him. Seemingly they value his life over their own,’ _ Glynda noted. 

If Jaune noticed this he made no comment on it, instead he leaned forward in his chair, folded his hands in front of him and locked eyes with her before speaking. “So, Glynda, what the fuck happened while I was gone?”

Not really knowing how to proceed, the woman decided to bring Jaune into the fold much like how Ozpin did herself when he brought her into his confidence many years ago. “Tell me Jaune, what is your favorite fairytale?”

The blonde man blinked at her. “My favorite fairytale? Forgive me if I don’t know how that’s relevant.”

“What if I told you that some fairytales like that of the Maidens held a grain of truth? Also that Ozpin intended to transfer the power of one of the Maidens into your partner Pyrrha Nikos?”

Jaune sat up straighter, his blue eyes glinting like sapphires as he spoke in a hardened tone. “I’d say tell me more, and for your sake, leave  _ nothing  _ out.”

It took all of Glynda’s none too considerable combat experience and willpower not to shudder under the younger man’s glare and hop to attention at the tone of his voice. She’s only seen eyes like that in veterans of the Great War. Glynda didn’t want to know what Jaune Arc went through to get a demeanor like that. __

_ ‘I do believe I know why his comrades are so protective of him now however,’  _ she thought to herself ruefully. Taking a breath to gather her flailing courage she spoke, “It is intrinsically connected to the Fall of Beacon, and it goes a little something like this…”

Jaune wanted to say he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Magic using Maidens? Soul transferring machines, and Relics left behind by Gods that had abandoned the world? To top it all off, a terrorist organization was going around trying to get both the Maiden powers and the relics because…  _ reasons? _ It was… well it didn’t surprise him all that much if he were being honest, not really. He’d been to other realities. He’d walked a world burned by nuclear fire, waged war across stars, fought a planet destroying sociopath, and more besides. He found it odd that he came back here and now though. 

_ ‘Is this that Ka that Roland always spoke of?’ _ Jaune wondered. He shook his head. He didn’t believe in fate or destiny. Yet just the thought of the words caused the words of another to ring through his head.

**_“There is always a lighthouse, always a man, always a city.”_ **

His mood instantly soured. He didn’t want to think of  _ her _ . The thing she’d become was unrecognizable to him, when compared to the sweet innocent girl he first met when he quite literally fell into her life. 

_ ‘Fucking Tears,’ _ he thought.

“Mr. Arc, is everything alright?” Glynda questioned.

Snapping himself out of his fugue he slapped a smirk on his face and replied with, “I told you Glynda, it’s Jaune, and I’m fine. I will say it's a good thing Pyrrha didn’t go through with the aura transfusion at the end… because if she had, then died, and I came back and found out you and Ozpin's group got her killed well… The time for civil discourse would’ve passed.”

The blonde woman nodded. She was under no illusions that Jaune Arc was stronger now than he had been before he disappeared. What she did question was his ability to beat her in a fight. With his teammates helping? He likely could defeat her. On his own? She had reason to doubt. 

Jaune reached into his exterior pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes that still had grains of sand in the packet. Taking one out, he lit it by touching the tip with his finger causing an electric spark to jump from his finger to the tip of the now lit cancer stick, which he took a long drag. 

Exhaling the man asked quietly, “So, can you tell me what happened to my teammates and Team RWBY?”

Glynda grimaced but was compliant in handing over the necessary information. His weary words set a tone that she could not ignore or censor any detail the man required. Something hung deep like a musty smell that she couldn’t help but relate to after so many months trapped in here trying to fight a battle that never seemed to ever end. 

“Yang Xiao Long is currently residing on Patch at her family home, recovering from a wound she received during the Fall of Beacon. Blake Belladonna fled, likely back to Menagerie after Yang was injured trying to protect her. Weiss Schnee was brought back to Atlas by her father, and then… there is Miss Rose and your teammates.”

Jaune’s question should have been angry like a typical young man who had heard something awful while he’d been away and unable to help. Glynda shivered at the measured, nearly clinical rage, clean but ran hotter than a furnace came out instead. 

“Who hurt Yang, and how was she hurt?”

Goodwitch looked away. “I’d rather not say. You’ll have to speak to her yourself.”

Slowly, Jaune swallowed his follow up question and conceded to her, nodding in the stead of him pursuing that line of enquiry further. Glynda was not an evasive person. He’d known that since the moment they clapped eyes on each other and the woman made it clear with an expression that she thought Jaune was better off going back the fuck he came.

He decided to attack the other Goliath in the room instead.

“Did it have something to do with her being a Faunus? Or the fact her parents founded the White Fang?” When Glynda looked at him in surprise he shrugged. “What, her bow never moved in the wind at all, it wasn’t hard to figure out she was hiding ears under there. As for the White Fang bit, anyone who just searches the name Belladonna could find out who she’s related to. It worked well enough for me when I couldn’t shake the niggling feeling I’d heard her last name somewhere before.”

“I… I see. Yes it was the latter.”

“Well... shit,” Jaune cursed. He closed his eyes and took a breath. “Okay, okay,  _ okay _ ... Tomorrow I want to go and speak with Yang, get debriefed on what went down.”

_ ‘He’s been in the military alright. The jargon proves it,’  _ the witch thought bemused as Jaune stood up. “Well I guess I should find a rack and get some shuteye. Or failing that I’ve got a bedroll kit I can use. Before that though, I’m going to help with the construction a bit. Last thing we need is sheet metal falling on people in their sleep, and I’ve seen jenga towers more stable than this place.”

She was about to protest, to ask about his own travels, wanting to know just where he went and more importantly, how… when a big burly man came into the tent carrying two girls by their necks. Judging by their identical appearances, long dark hair, and pale green eyes, and pale complexions, they were twins.

The one on the left was wearing a red dress trimmed in black lace with an off center black bow tied around her waist, armored black heels, red opera gloves covering her arms, and a black fur shawl around her shoulders with a matching choker around her neck that had an emerald affixed to it. In her hair was a trio of feathers, two white with a black one in the center. The raptor-like red claws on her wrists caught his eye too.

In the man’s opposing grip was a similar girl garbed in white. White fur shawl, white gloves, a small bowtie right in the middle of her cleavage, and white thigh-high boots that had red lace up detailing the more interesting part about the boots though were the blades on the heels.

Glynda sighed. “Yes Yatsuhashi, what is it?”

_ ‘Yatsuhashi, I remember him, he’s on Team CFVY,’  _ Jaune thought to himself. _ “Still a big fucking guy even after I did the growing thing. Barret’s probably damn smaller than this dude.’ _

“Caught these two…” He gave the girls a shake. The pair mewled like nearly drowned kittens in his tree trunk arms. “Trying to steal their weapons again.”

Glynda fixed the two with a sharp glare. Jaune backed away on reflex. It was a standard survival tactic when Nora was caught doing some mad shit and the blonde got wind of it. “Ladies, we’ve been over this.”

“We can help!” the girl in red protested.

“If you would just give us a chance,” the white clad one said bitterly, a sour look on her face.

The twins, the huge guy and the blonde teacher had somehow forgotten his presence and entered their own little world. This did not seem to be a new thing but all the same he wanted to know what the fuck was going on.

Clearing his throat, Jaune asked, “Not that this isn’t interesting but what seems to be the problem here Glynda?”

Flicking her riding crop towards them, the woman replied, “These two, are criminals. They claim to want to help but they go around breaking what few rules we have around here at every turn. It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with.”

_ ‘If I had a dollar, cap, or credit, for every time someone told me something ‘was not my concern’ I would be both rich and dead.’  _ Jaune thought to himself.  _ ‘If I can peacefully end the Geth-Quarian war, I can solve a dispute.’  _ Jaune broke their little bubble the way any military guy did. He coughed so obviously nobody was in doubt that it was deliberate. “Ladies. What exactly is she talking about?”

“Um, who’re you?” the one in red asked.

“The only one here in your corner at the moment. So stuff the sass and get to talking Missie before I change my mind.” Jaune promptly replied, his cerulean blue eyes locking onto her light green for a moment.

Red shut up and White, took over. Her pout could sink a thousand ships. “We would like to help with the defense of this place, but due to our past, and not having official training, Miss Goodwitch isn’t willing to give us any chance to prove ourselves.”

Glynda’s glasses glinted in the limited light. “You have tried to leave on multiple occasions, refused to tell anyone where you tried going each time you were questioned, neither of you have done anything to gain my or anyone else's trust and tried on numerous occasions to steal your weapons back which were only taken until you proved you could be trusted which believe me you haven’t yet.”

“That’s enough Glynda.” Jaune raised his voice only a little, finding her twisting the knife like she was a little heavy handed but it was enough to silence the teacher. He turned to the twins. His gaze was enough to have one of them, Red forget she wasn’t military and stand to attention. Her twin ended that by elbowing her in the side. “Ladies, what do you have to say to all this?”

The two looked at each other before nodding. Red, surprisingly considering the obvious domination of her sister before spoke for the two of them now. “Well sir, we were going to raid a bolthole our mother set up for us in case something went wrong here in Vale. It’s filled with Dust, food, drinkable water you don’t need to  _ boil first _ , you know that sort of thing. It was going to be our way of ingratiating ourselves to the people here…” Red shot Glynda a nasty look. “But every time we try to leave to pick up said supplies,  _ Goodbitch _ here catches us and chews us out!”

Red’s reward for swearing was another harder shake from Yatsuhashi. The bear was playing with his caught salmon it seemed. 

Jaune sighed and rolled his eyes. Damn rookies in boot camp were smarter than this. “Geez, I wonder why? It’s not like you weren’t obviously going out into a Grimm infested city unarmed.” Glynda opened her mouth to say something, likely to ask why they never brought up the cache before when Jaune beat her to the punch. “Unless I miss my guess Red, the reason you didn’t bring this up with Glynda is simply because of a lack of trust. If she wasn’t willing to trust  _ you _ , then neither of you had any reason to trust  _ her _ with the location of your cache or their contents correct?”

Red nodded grinning like the Saybr that ate the hunter. “Yep, and it's Miltiades Malachite by the way,” She sent him a playful wink. The personality swap was jarring to say the least. “Though you can call me Miltia.” She nodded to White. “This is my sister, Melanie.”

“Hi,” Melanie said, giving him a curt nod as she silently appraised him.

Jaune shot them a nod. “Ladies.” He paused before saying, “I know you don’t trust Glynda, she hasn’t given you reason to.” He ignored her squawk of indignation and continued, “However would you be willing to trust me?” He spread his arms. “I mean, I’m going to bat for you here.”

Again, the Twins had a moment of silent communication that only they seemed to be able to do. They seemed to come to a consensus and Red was elected again to speak.

“We,” Milita said.

“Have decided,” Melanie continued.

“To trust you!” Both said at the same time, sending him a sincere smile as they did so.

This caused Jaune to smile himself. If it wasn’t obvious they would roll with him because Glynda was a hardass even in her downtime. Ozpin probably Mistralled up those coffees he always drank when dealing with the stern teacher but it was probably her powers that stopped Beacon from being destroyed before the Grimm could.

“That’s great!” He then spoke directly to Yatsuhashi, the silent bear that he was. He still said pretty much fuck all it appeared. “Put them down please.”

“On one condition,” the large man spoke, his voice coming out in a deep timbre that vibrated through the space. A man of few words but when they were spoken they stuck.

Jaune raised an eyebrow and smirked. The bear backed down when Jaune supported a posture to match the bear. “Which is?”

“You  _ are _ Jaune Arc yes?” Upon receiving a nod, Yatsuhashi continued. “Then I would like you to come speak to one of my teammates. She would be… most pleased to see you alive and well.”

Jaune had no idea why Coco Adel would want to talk to him, but he decided to roll with it. “Okay yeah sure. Now if we’re done with negotiations can you please release the hostages?”

That earned a chuckle from the bigger man as he dropped the two girls, calling behind his shoulder as he left. “I shall let her know to expect you.”

Jaune stood up as well, “Militia, Melanie, if you want to get a head start on earning some cred around here, you can help me with a little project before we head out tomorrow.”

“What’s the plan?” Melanie asked, head cocked to the side in a curious manner.

In response, Jaune looked to his left wrist and called, “EDI?”

His left forearm was suddenly encased in orange light as a hardlight gauntlet covered his arm and from a node in the center a small ball floated brightening as a robotic feminine voice spoke. 

“Yes Jaune? How may I be of assistance?”

“I need a structural analysis of all the buildings here, if any are unsound I need you to let me know so I can fix them with omni-gel.”

EDI happily complied to her orders. “Understood, may I deploy a drone to fulfill this task?”

“Of course.” Seconds later, a white spherical machine the size of a bowling ball with a black grill on its face popped out of the device, and beeped in acknowledgement a couple of times before it floated out of the pavilion. Jaune turned to the twins who watched with interested faces as the interaction took place. “When EDI reports in I want you two to go to the houses she specifies and let the people know they need to leave. It’s not a glorious job, but I think letting people know their temporary homes might collapse on them and are being fixed will go a long way to earning you two some goodwill around here.”

The twins nodded. “Thanks,” Melanie said, she didn’t seem to be a big talker. 

“What is that thing on your wrist and whose EDI is she a virtual intelligence?” Miltia asked.

“I too have many questions Jaune, about where you’ve been, and who your silent companions are.”

In response, Jaune sent the senior Huntress a smirk. The shift in dynamic worked in getting the blonde to back off from the topic. He wasn’t ready for that just yet. “Sorry Glynda, but you're asking for pillow talk, and I don’t give that out till  _ at least  _ the third date.” His response caused all the women present to blush, “Seriously though, if you want to know about my past, you gotta be willing to wine and dine a guy. Don’t you know a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?” He glanced left and right at Gwynevere and Juliet respectively, before shrugging, “I guess they just don’t feel like sharing.”

“We shall happily participate in repairs and resource retrieval tomorrow sir,” Juliet replied easily with Gwynevere nodding along.

“Awesome, thanks ladies.”

“Tch, whatever,” The one behind him leaning on a post said.

Jaune glared behind him, his blue eyes aglow. “Don’t think I don’t know you activated your semblance Alice. That means I need to do maintenance before I can go to sleep tonight.”

Alice looked down trying to hide the flush on her face. 

“Sorry sir.” She looked up when a hand landed on her head to see Jaune smiling at her.

“Don’t apologize just be more careful in the future okay?”

“Okay,” Alice muttered, refusing to meet his eyes.

The twins shared a knowing look.

Jaune sighed finishing off his second cigarette as he did so stomping it out on the ground as he waited for EDI to get back to him. “Anyway, as soon as EDI reports in we can get started.”

“Jaune, I’ve completed my sweep and found no less than eighteen structurally compromised buildings,” EDI suddenly piped up.

“Speak of the devil and she appears,” Jaune muttered under his breath. “Roger that EDI, can you give me a map and outline the buildings?”

Moments later, a 3D map appeared; some buildings were outlined in red, while others remained orange in coloration. Of the eighteen three were on the ground level and in danger of collapsing due to all the weight being put on them, five were on the second story and the remaining ten were at the third level or higher.

Glynda’s eyes widened as she looked at the map. Before she rapidly took to her feet. “I will personally deal with the ground level housing, this cannot wait.” She turned to the Malachite twins, “You girls see to the evacuation of the upper floors. Tell them you have my authority if they ask.”

With that the Huntress left the pavilion. Jaune lit his third cigarette as he said, “Well girls, looks like you have your mission parameters.”

Miltia gave a mock salute, “Aye aye sir, we’ll get right on that,” with Melanie silently doing the same before the twins too left the tent. 

Now that they were alone, Jaune turned to Pod 142 and said “Status report on A2, 142.”

The feminine Pod replied promptly. “Phalanges in both hands are damaged and require replacing, Servos in both knees and elbows are worn, and likely require replacement, overall mobility has been lowered to sixty percent. Combat ability is at fifty-two percent.” 

Jaune fixed Alice with a flat glare. A2 glared at her Pod muttering, “Fucking traitor.”

“Jaune Arc is our XO, lying to him would be… ill advised,” Pod 142 remarked.

Jaune held open the tent flap for his teammates, specifically Alice. “C’mon let’s find a place a bit more private to do this. Anyone could come in here looking for Glynda.”

* * *

Finding a nice secluded out of the way spot, Jaune turned to A2 and took a breath to brace himself before he said flatly, “Alright, you know the drill, strip.”

A2 wasted no time and began peeling off her tattered clothing, as meager as it was. Once she was naked in front of Jaune, he had to actually take a moment to remind himself that A2 was actually an android and not a human being thus he wasn’t being a pervert. She certainly  _ looked _ human enough right now. Pale skin shining in a nearby trashcan fire, she held her arms below her full breasts and her smooth stomach wide hips that gave way to long legs that ended in dainty feet. She was gorgeous. A supermodel mixed with a vicious brawler. 

Jaune gave his head a shake before he reached over and pressed her bellybutton. Unlike with humans, it was an actual button that allowed him to access her internal systems. Synthetic flesh peeled away, a Y-shaped seam opening up in A2’s chest, causing the android to hiss as her internal systems were revealed to the world. Servos circuitry and mechanical guts mixed with something akin to blood. He was told by Pods 042 and 153 what most of their internals did and how to fix them. Yet despite that, he still didn’t know what the device in their stomachs were for. It looked like some kind of incubator but he didn’t know what for and neither Pod would tell him.

Shaking his head for letting his mind wander, Jaune proceeded to remove the faulty parts in A2 feed them into his omnitool to get some material back and then create new ones and replace them, it was long, messy work that if anyone stumbled upon him right now, would probably mistake him for some kind of demented serial killer. 

“Is everything alright Jaune, you’re not usually this quiet,” A2 said as he continued to work. “Are…” she paused. “Are you upset with me?”

_ ‘Is that what she thought?’ _ The blonde always found A2 was more open and honest when he was forced to do maintenance on her like this. He met her gaze and smiled. “No, I’m not. I do wish you’d be more careful though Alice. If you die here… there’s no Bunker for you to upload to. You need to be more careful okay? I don’t want to lose you.”

The android looked away. “Alright…” A pause before. “Is anything else on your mind? It seems like nothing is how you left it. I… I know you were hoping for some peace and quiet once you got home.”

“I guess it was the will of Ka that I found another war.”

“You don’t believe in fate or destiny,” A2 said with a little laugh.

Jaune shook his head as he finished fixing her right hand before moving onto the left. “No, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t believe in me.”

“WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!”

Jaune turned to see Coco Adel staring at him in horror, her dark brown eyes wide as her shades had slipped down on her nose in her shock. A black jacket hung from her arms revealing she was wearing a sleeveless beige sweater, which contrasted sharply with the chocolate brown skirt and off center belt with brass buckle she was wearing. She had a full length brown boot on her left leg, while her right was bare, save for the brass stiletto heel she was wearing. As usual, she had her beret on her head. She mechashifted her handbag into a Gatling gun and aimed it his way before she growled out, “Don’t fucking move you sicko!”

“Uh, this isn’t what it looks like?” Jaune said lamely, while holding up his hands in surrender… hands which were covered in synthetic blood. 

Coco gave him a flat look and deadpan reply, “Sure it isn’t. Move and I’ll turn you into bloodier chunks than your latest victim.” Reaching for her scroll, she opened it and dialed a number. By the third ring Glynda’s face popped up on screen.

“Glynda Goodwitch speaking. This had better be important miss Adel, I’m dealing with a potential housing crisis at the moment. Had it not been pointed out to me by a new arrival many people could’ve died.”

“Hey Goodwitch, Coco here... I kinda stumbled onto a murder scene.”

“What?!”

Turning her scroll to face the culprit, she said, “See for yourself.”

“Jaune?” Glynda said. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Hey Glynda,” Jaune said, giving her a wave, “Coco and I seem to have had a bit of a misunderstanding.”

Coco narrowed her eyes at the masked man. “Arc? Well, Bun-bun dodged a bullet I guess.”

Looking to the android who was silently watching the scene take place Jaune said, “2A back me up here.” 

“I’m not dead you fucking morons,” 2A called from the side as she seemingly lay there bleeding out, “The Commandant is just fixing some broken parts. Happens every time I use my fucking Semblance.”

“Miss Adel, move your scroll closer please,” Glynda requested. 

Keeping Gianduja trained in the possible killer, Coco moved in moving her scroll over the girl called A2 as she did so.

What Glynda and Coco saw surprised them. “She’s an android! Like Penny Polendina.” Coco quickly realized. 

“What the fuck is a Penny Polindina?” Jaune asked.

Shifting Gianduja back into a purse, Coco explained. “Right, you weren’t here for the Vytal Festival. Long short of it is this. Polindina was an android given an aura by Atlas. She ended up fighting your partner during the singles match, and… well, Pyrrha tore her apart, _ literally _ .”

“Huh, neat.” Jaune’s reaction was tempered by realizing he wasn’t going to be shot now so Jaune got back to work fixing A2. He removed the false bones in her hands before moving on to her knees. Coco stayed there through it all, watching in morbid fascination. It was like watching a Bullhead crash. She wanted to look away, but couldn’t. Not liking the awkward silence, Jaune spoke. “So Coco, why did you want to talk to me anyway?” Hearing the girl in question hum in curiosity, he continued, “I met Yatsuhashi earlier. He said you’d be interested in talking to me for some reason.”

“Oh… Yatsu wasn’t talking about me, but Bun-bun.” He could hear the teasing lilt in the woman’s tone.

“Bun-bun?” The connection wasn’t made at first. The name only made him feel hungry for some Chinese food. “Wait! You mean Velvet Scarlatina, don’t you? Why would she want to talk to me? As far as I’m aware, we’ve never spoken to one another.”

Coco just smirked. That didn’t bode well. “Well, you’ll just have to go and see her yourself and find out, won’t you stud?”

“Do you flirt with everyone you thought was a killer?” Jaune asked, glancing back at her and raising his mask on the top of his head, giving her a good look at his face. It was covered in scars. The right side of his face was marred by an arching almost lightning bolt like pattern that trailed all the way from his right temple down his jaw. Another went straight around his forehead and likely went into his hairline only to be covered up by his golden locks, but the most prominent scar she could see were two side by side bullet wounds in his left temple, like a gnarly figure eight carved into his skull.

“Nah, just the cute ones,” Coco replied, winking at him. War wounds or not chicks digged scars in Remnant too it seemed.

_ ‘Women, I’ll never understand them.’ _ He thought to himself as he finished patching up A2.  _ ‘Female androids either.’  _ Jaune leaned back to show his work was completed. “There you should be all set. Close it all up and get dressed.”

It was only then that Coco realized A2 was naked.  _ ‘Well duh, of course she was, how else could he fix what was wrong with her? Still, for him to act so calmly android or no. He’s seen it all before. Been with a woman, I wonder how Bun-Bun’ll handle this.’  _ She decided to do some digging. “So Arc, what’s your story anyway?”

“Technically I’ve been travelling around.” He said as he shook synthetic blood off his hands while A2’s aura sealed her wounds shut.

“Technically?” Coco asked. 

Taking a piece of cloth, and wiping his hands off on it as best he could before tossing it in the trashcan fire, Jaune replied, “It’s too complicated to get into right now.”

“Hmm, you got a place to stay?” Seeing him shake his head, Coco smirked. “Then follow me, and you and your team can shack up with me and mine.”

“That’s kind of you Coco, thank you… even if you're just trying to hook me up with Velvet for reasons I don’t understand.”

Coco’s jaw dropped a bit. This was not the clueless Jaune Arc she remembered.  _ ‘He’s really grownup hasn’t he?’  _ She put on her ‘leader face’ then, letting her glasses slide down her nose so she could fix Arc with a sharp glare, hands on hips. “Well, since you figured me out, I won’t bother beating around the bush. You let Bun-bun down gently or else Yatsu, Fox, and I’ll have something new to use for target practice yeah?”

“Juliet, stop.” Jaune said in response. Moments later, Coco heard a loud thump behind her and turned to see a short girl in a black dress land behind her, white katana in hand. The glare she was sending her was palpable. Jaune sighed and wryly he stated, though it could be seen as a question too, “Juliet, what’re you doing?”

“Protecting you, Commandant.”

“I thought your protocols prevented you from harming humans?”

2B nodded, before speaking in her monotone. “It does, I can’t  _ kill  _ humans but it said nothing about apprehending, subduing and disarming them if they are a danger to themselves or other humans.”

“Any other friends I need to be made aware of?” Coco asked. Before she felt the point of cold steel being pressed up against her aura and the back of her neck.”

“Just me.” Gwynevere replied coolly.

“Play nice you two. Where were you anyway?” Jaune asked semi-annoyed he almost got shot while doing repairs on Alice.

“Surveying the area,” Juliet replied, “There are so many humans here, and… humans with animal traits as well… What  _ are they _ Commandant?”

“They’re Faunus. Humans with a singular animal trait, and the ability to see in the dark. Some people see them as different species but personally? I see them as people no different from someone with a different skin tone.”

Gwynevere nodded. “Understood we shall classify them as human and a non threat and to be protected under our protocols.”

Jaune shook his head, putting all of  _ any _ group into neat little boxes like good and evil was not only stupid, it could get them killed. “It’s not that easy Gwyn. Some humans are good, others aren’t. Same with Faunus. You need to learn to judge people on a case by case basis.”

Coco’s head bobbed up and down, in agreement with his sentiment. 

Hesitantly, Gwynevere nodded in acceptance. “Very well sir.”

Thumbing behind her, Coco joked, “C’mon stud, your princess awaits.”

Jaune resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he followed after the leader of Team CFVY, his own squad following behind.

* * *

**Words: 9,400 Number of Pages: 20 Date Completed: 11/11/2020 Cross Posted on FFN and AO3: 11/15/2020**

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	2. Ch.2: Jaw-Jaw and War-war

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Still don’t own shit.

**Song of Jaune**

**By: Bubbajack**

**Beta/Co-author: Icysnowsage and Heliosion**

**Disclaimer: Still don’t own shit.**

**Ch.2: Jaw-jaw and War-war**

“Velvet, sit down,” Fox Alistair pleaded after having watched her pace back and forth for what must’ve been the dozenth time in what was their temporary home. It was little more than a rusting shipping container for the SDC where they had cut a door sized hole in one end, and put up some sheet metal wall dividers to form walls for rooms, with some hastily nailed together boards forming interior doors. Velvet had been pacing what passed for their living room for the past two hours, burning a track in the floor, fretting incessantly ever since Yatsuhashi had returned off schedule from guarding the armory and told them Jaune Arc had just as suddenly returned after his abrupt disappearance. 

The rabbit Faunus stopped pacing only to hop from foot to foot, causing Fox to sigh. To his blind eyes, her chocolate brown aura flared wildly, showing her excitement. She had just not started thumping her foot on the ground to show the bear like man that she was overwhelmed. 

_ ‘She’s been waiting almost a year to see Arc again. I guess I shouldn’t be so hard on her.’  _ The bear of a man that was Yatsuhashi Daichi chuckled good-naturedly. “Calm down Velvet, Coco went out to look for him for you. I’m sure she’ll be back shortly with your chosen one.”

The sage like words caused Velvet's aura to suddenly flare, a corona of colors as she stilled, signifying a blush. 

“S-She did?! I-I thought she was j-just going for a walk?” Seeing her partner and fellow teammate shaking their heads, she let out a strong high pitched ’meep’ before she pulled her ears over her face to hide her mounting embarrassment. “You're all terrible! I  _ hate  _ you!”

She didn’t really but this word only came out when he was teasing her.

“No we’re not… now if he breaks your heart… well…” Yatsuhashi trailed off as he kept running a whetstone over Fulcrum, his giant sword. The sounds of stone scraping against metal singing a song of promised doom to any suitor that didn’t pass the test.

That earned Yatsu a glare that even Fox could feel despite lacking true sight. “There will be no threatening him you two.” She looked back and forth between the two of them “Understood? We have no idea what Jaune has been through or what happened to him. So be nice…” She clasped her hands in front of her chest and gave them the look, her big brown eyes staring into their very souls. “Please? For me?”

The bear grunted, his resolve vanishing faster than mist in the early morning sun. He never could say no to the bunny when she got like that. His usually calm ocean blue aura shifted and swelled showing agitation before going flat once again. 

“Fine, but if he tries anything, I’m skinning him alive and salting his body so he knows what happens if he hurts you.”

Velvet sighed. She probably had decided that was the best she was getting from the giant bear like man that had once punted a racist into a sewage tank for talking bad shit about her ears. It was why she didn’t bring up team CRDL anymore. They didn’t deserve to die. Maimed maybe? But not  _ death _ …  _ Well _ … She probably  _ shouldn’t _ go there. 

“I don’t think it’ll come to that Yatsu, but just remember you promised.”

The bear grunted in acquiesce, and said nothing more. Fox, for his part, was happy to wait for his leader’s return. Due to his blindness, and using his ability to detect aura to compensate, Fox Alistair had a sort of extra sensory perception, a sense that linked up the other senses that hadn’t failed him thus far. He could ‘see’ through walls and the like and could see various aura’s of those around him, it was akin to being in a dark cave, with all these little flames. Each a different color, each flicker had a different emotional meaning. He felt like a candle watcher or one who sees innumerable bonfires off in the distance. He had, more than a year ago now, collected the flames of his friends, his team, his true family around him, and in their warmth found something he’d been missing ever since he lost his family to senseless violence. The Kenyta Tribesman had never hated his parents. He just disliked how they viewed him as weak simply because he was blind. His new family, Team CFVY didn’t see him as an invalid, a burden or a weight holding them down. They relied on him, depended on him, and he in turn would protect them with his life. 

Which is why, when he noticed his leader’s aura practically being dwarfed by a small sun whose core was as black as the void, he was on his feet in seconds strapping Sharp Retribution to his arms, making sure the wrist blades were fully loaded before he stepped outside to confront this anomaly to his senses.

It didn’t matter that Fox Alistair thought he was running to his death. His leader could be in danger.

* * *

_ ‘Stud’s been quiet.’ _ Coco thought to herself as she led the way to her team’s makeshift home. The pair had maintained an eerie silence as they strolled through the dilapidated settlement. She glanced at him as he walked by her side. They rounded the bend, past the water pump and Team CFVY’s trailer for lack of a better term which Coco affectionately called the rustbucket in her head came into view. The rust covered shipping container anointed with bird mess was surrounded by a stone lined campfire which they used to cook. It fed the hot water for the makeshift washtub out on one side of the house that had no windows and since they had little in the way of clothes they made do with what they had. A dented steel coffee pot sat nearby that they used to boil the all important drinking water before they drank it, just to be safe. It wasn’t much, but for the past little while when the world went to hell, it was home.

“This is where you’re staying huh?” Jaune spoke up for the first time since they started walking. He looked around, expertly hiding his raised eyebrow. It was a long jump from the old days where they had all lived in climate controlled dorms. “Seems nice.”

Coco raised an eyebrow at him. “It does?”

The blonde shrugged, feeling her gaze from behind her glasses. She had no idea at all. “Better than a lot of places I’ve stayed. You don’t need to walk three miles to get fresh water, even if you have to boil it. Food might be a bit of a clincher but at least you don’t have to check it with a Geiger counter first...” At her confusion, he smirked knowingly, drawing a frown from the clueless girl. He had forgotten that this world had nothing like nuclear power and explaining it could cause horrible consequences by sheer chance. “I may be able to help with the food. We’ll see.” Just hearing that he might be able to solve the food problem made Coco’s stomach rumble in protest, causing her to flush, and him to chuckle. Her cheeks went pink but quickly her attitude turned back to the girl he knew best. Glancing at her he asked, “Is food a problem?”

Coco scoffed, the blonde didn’t know the half of it. “Food, Dust, ammo, hell toilet paper! Everything is either running out or when we try to get it fucking Grimm force us to ditch half of it. We’re balancing on a knife's edge and it won’t be long before our throats get cut. We need to keep enough ammo here to protect the people in case the Grimm find us, but at the same time, we need to keep sending people topside to keep the Grimm thinned or scavenge for food and other supplies. The only thing we don’t lack for down here is water and that’s because underneath us is the god damn reservoir.”

“Hmm, I’ll do what I can.” Jaune promised. He was already plotting his next move, trying to be five moves ahead of everything else.

Coco sent him a thankful smile, enjoying this rare moment where the world wasn’t so bleak as Fox Alistair, her faithful partner walked out of their makeshift home. At his side Sharp Retribution gleamed on his wrists, the rusty red blades, curving behind his arms as his index fingers were curved over the built in pistol triggers. 

He stared at Jaune. Being blind didn’t stop what was wafting from him. Violence was in the air.

“Fox? What’s the problem hotstuff?” Coco called out.

For Fox Alistair, staring at Jaune Arc’s aura was like staring into the sun, the corona of a star that made looking directly at him more painful the closer he’d gotten. However, the only problem with his analogy was simple… Suns did not have a pitch black core.

Jaune’s left hand subconsciously drifted towards his main sword. Feeling the tension rising, Coco stepped between the two. “Foxy, what’s going on?”

Looking at Jaune with milky white eyes, Fox asked. “What are you?”

“I’m Jaune Arc. Why are you looking like you're one step away from me stomping you into the floor?” 

The blunt, almost bored dulcet tones of Jaune Arc were more powerful than if he’d shouted right into the guy’s face. The slack grip on that massive sword, the body language, the stance that looked about as solid as a piece of jelly in a cement mixer… Fox’s predictions on what would happen were so wrong that it threw him off. He forgot the black sun, the painful, oh ever so painful aura that had started to make him nauseous… It was all forgotten with one statement.

Fox was afraid. The hunter to be was scared of this guy. There was something unnatural about him. Like the world had scarred him to the very soul or something.

The hunter after a heartbeat swallowed that black hole worth of fear and bristled at the perceived insult, only for Coco to fix him with a glare he could feel. She always could stop him with a look. 

“Put your cocks away and zip your flys boys. This place is shitty enough as it is, we don’t need to make it  _ worse _ by having a pissing contest.”

Jaune chuckled darkly at Coco. He’d smashed a person’s face through a fifth floor window for a lesser insult. If he wanted to Fox would be pushing up daisies already.

“I didn’t start this fight Coco,” Jaune said almost cheerily but there was a strain in his voice that belayed this rather terrible attempt to hide his aggravation. “But you can be damn sure I’ll finish it,” Jaune added as he lowered his left hand from his sword.

Coco glanced his way but said nothing as she locked eyes figuratively speaking with her partner. 

“Fox, are we going to play nice with each other or do I need to send your ass to the naughty corner?”

Fox, glowered. Something was… off, about Jaune Arc. He just didn’t know what it was. Still Coco trusted him so he was willing to as well… for now. Lowering his guard he stepped aside, allowing the man to enter their home. 

The blonde didn’t even make it five steps before he was tackled by a brass and brown missile. He wrapped his around the lithe warm body that plowed into him with all the force of a Krogan Battlemaster hopped up on steroids and glanced down to see a giant pair of bunny ears nuzzling themselves into his stomach.

“Velvet?” Jaune asked a bit winded by the sudden impact. “Hi?”

She looked up at him with her big brown eyes, the biggest smile on her face as she smiled up at him, but he noticed an ambivalent rush of emotions in those eyes of hers. Adoration, respect… lust.

_ ‘She’s gonna try and jump my bones isn’t she?’ _ Jaune asked himself.  _ ‘Should I be worried considering she’s part rabbit?’ _

“Your back!” Velvet pulled herself up to her full height just so she could throw her arms around his neck and nuzzle her head into his collarbone. “You’re really back.”

“Hehe… Hey, uh Velvet… Any… uh… any particular reason why you’re being so affectionate? Not that I mind,” Jaune said, wondering what the fuck was going on. It wasn’t the first time a woman had done this to him, but it was the first time it had happened since he got home… and he honestly didn’t expect it to come from  _ Velvet freakin’ Scarlatina _ of all people. Pyrrha?  _ Yes _ , after some thinking while he had some downtime it was pretty obvious that girl was _ thirsty  _ as fuck. Ruby?  _ Maybe _ , the girl was harder to read with her love of cookies and weapons. Weiss? The snow bitch was as cold as her desire for him, absolute  _ zero  _ with no chance of her ever thawing. 

_ Velvet? _ … This girl came completely out of left field for the love of the gods!

“Jaune?” She pulled back and looked at him a little hurt. “You mean you  _ don’t  _ remember?”

Jaune blinked. “I’m gonna be honest Vel, I’ve been through a metric ton of shit since I’ve been away so you’re gonna have to be a little more specific darlin’.”

Cheeks going cherry red, the Faunus girl nodded bashfully, her ears twitching. “Well, I didn’t find this out till after but you told Cardin to leave your team, and  _ me _ alone.”

“Oh…” It slowly came back to him. “Now that you mention it…”

It was one of his more manlier moments before the fall...

_ Cardin punching him in the face for refusing to throw tree sap at Pyrrha, his aura flaring and redirecting the attack, him grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and for the first time showing the inner darkness that lurked just beneath his nice guy veneer, as he hissed at him darkly, “You can pick on me all you want, I don’t give a damn what happens to me, but you don’t mess with my team! Also, if you mess with Scarlatina again and I find out…” He smirked viciously, “Well, you’ve been lucky so far that she hasn’t told the rest of her team. I will not be so kind.” _

Then the Ursa Major showed up, and you know  _ shit  _ happened. 

“... Yeah, I  _ did _ do that,” Jaune admitted, his memory jogged after a moment.  _ ‘I kinda forgot with being in peril all the damn time,’ _ he thought, but his face didn’t betray this epic level of sarcasm. 

Now holding her at arm's length he got a good look at her. She was wearing her dark brown hair was up in two twintails, and held in place by two brass hair clips. She was wearing a dark green top that had her emblem a stitched heart emblazoned on the front upside down in solid brass which accentuated her bust that was  _ much larger _ than he recalled in his memories. He’d almost had to rub his eyes to make sure he’d not been imagining it. The shoulders of her sleeves were disconnected showing off the pale skin of her arms. Around her waist was a bronze belt which held up her brown and bronze toned skirt which also had the same brass stitching as her emblem running along its length. She was wearing black stockings, with an anklet on her left leg. The stockings were also contrasted by brass heels she had on her feet.

All in all, despite living in a sewer she looked good enough to eat. ‘ _ Might have to get me some of that red velvet cake,’  _ Jaune shook his head banishing those particular thoughts.  _ ‘Your not going to be swept away by a ‘thinny’ again Jaune. Time to get your act together.’ _

Instead, he gently took his hand in hers and spoke as kindly as he could despite being so tired. “So, how’s about we go inside for a chat Vel darlin’?”

Velvet beamed at him and nodded. Taking him by the hand and leading him inside… That is, until she noticed the sex bot and the hot young women next to her. “Who… Who’re they?” 

Glancing behind him Jaune smiled. “Juliet, Alice, Gwyn. Introduce yourselves. Don’t expect me to do everything for you.”

Velvet for her part, barely heard their names. She felt her heart, already fragile from having to stitch it back together from her parent’s divorce and separation, with her father in Atlas and mother in Vacuo begin to fray once again. It was a wound that had only healed since she met her team. Her mind began to race. 

_ ‘Who were these women, these supermodels and why were they with Jaune? Was one of them his lover? Was it all three?!’ _ She didn’t know and the less she knew the more her mind began to come up with its own answers each more outlandish than the last. He saw the one who looked like a robot.  _ ‘Or is he only into sex dolls?’  _ Her maidenly heart started thumping. _ ‘I could… get a costume or maybe cut off my arm and replace…’ _

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she turned to see Coco staring at her worriedly. 

“Easy Bun-Bun.” Coco could see the inner turmoil in the girl faster than a speeding bullet.

Velvet nodded timidly as she continued to lead the man she’d been carrying a torch for into their abode.

Once inside Jaune looked around. It was a simple place. There were a few tattered rugs on the floor making it slightly appealing to sit down on and in one corner was the bear Yatsuhashi who was eyeing him cooly like a dad meeting the boyfriend of his daughter for the first time as he stepped through the hole that was the front door. Jaune sent him a silent nod of acknowledgement, which he just as quietly, returned. Yet the blonde saw the silent warning in his eyes, and the way he ground his whetstone harder against the edge of his greatsword as he entered the place. 

Translation: Hurt the bunny and die. 

He jerked his head down sharply just once. Message received.

His mental retort: I’d still murder you with one hand behind my back.

The bear just glanced at him and made the noise of a sharpening implement of death all that bit louder.

Again Coco stepped in between the two boys, and said, “Put 'em away boys!”

She seemed to have a sixth sense for male pissing contests in progress. Jaune silently wondered if it was her Semblance. Taking his eyes of the Ursa Major in human form, Jaune smiled as best he could given the fact he’d seemingly seamlessly alienated half of Team CFVY without trying. It was quite the feat seeing as Velvet had either chosen to ignore the big brother antics or she was oblivious that every member of her team was a militia dedicated to keeping the bunny happy and safe. 

“Where can I pitch a tent?”

“Usually the boys do that in the bathroom Stud,” Coco replied with a smirk.

Running a hand down his face, the blonde replied in a tone dryer than the heat of the Mojave Wasteland, “That’s not what I meant and you know it woman.” Coco just laughed at his expense. Ignoring her with the practice of being surrounded by difficult women, he looked to Velvet and asked kindly, “How’ve you been Vel?”

“As well as I can be living in a sewer.” Velvet’s eyes flicked to Alice, Juliet, and Gwynevere. The red alert was blaring in his head. “Who’re your friends Jaune?”

In response, Jaune took off his helmet, causing her to stare only for a moment at his scarred visage. “That’s… a loaded question Vel.” Jaune looked to his companions, “Should I just give ‘em the short version?”

Juliet nodded. “That would likely be best sir.”

The long version would take days if the truth be told. They were never going to explain the long version… I mean how did you explain a Krogan to a bunch of people who couldn’t even imagine flying a spaceship into space?

Clearing his throat, Jaune began this story worthy of legends. “The first thing you need to know is, though it may be hard to accept, is that there are worlds other than this one.”

Velvet’s ears twitched to the side in confusion and disbelief. “Other  _ worlds  _ Jaune? Really?”

Coco fixed him with a disbelieving gaze of her own, even lowering her glasses to do so. “I gotta admit Stud, that’s an interesting tall tale you're spinning there.”

Even though he was the one who admitted as much, Jaune let out a mirthless laugh as he rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, I thought much the same when I first heard it myself.” He took out another cigarette and flicked some sand off the tip. Where was that? And he hoped it wasn’t radioactive. He wouldn’t feel right introducing nuclear fallout to another world… Well, at least not again. He almost lit up before looking at Coco and Velvet before asking, “You ladies mind if I smoke in here?”

“We don’t but Fox might, his other senses are well, sensitive.” Coco said while looking at her partner.

“I’d prefer you did that outside,” Fox admitted.

“Fair enough, whiskey it is then.” Jaune put his cancer stick back and instead took a swig from the canteen that had V13 painted on it in yellow instead. He blamed Cass for getting him addicted to this drink. He offered his self-filling canteen to the members of Team CFVY and to his surprise they accepted. 

It started with Velvet of all people. She took a tentative glance, sniffed the canteen and grimaced. She repeated this when she took a sip, grimaced a bit more and then with her ears shooting straight up the bunny took a second sip, then a third. She handed the canteen with shaking hands to Coco who took a long pull from it herself without the same caution as her Faunus friend. She then passed it to the bear, who abstained, and then Fox who sniffed it, only to grimace and hand it back to Jaune, who put the cap back on, and proceeded with his explanation. 

“There are other worlds than this, and I can prove it. I’ve walked a vast kingdom that had weapons that wiped it out, and even two-hundred years later, they still haven’t rebuilt themselves from the ashes of their own Great War. I’ve been to the stars and seen other worlds, fought flesh stealing machines, and seen what keeps the very fabric of reality from collapsing into the abyss where the demons hunger and wait…” As he spoke, there was a thousand yard stare in his eyes, all emotion  _ gone _ so his face was like plaster in his deep contemplations about the mechanics of the multiverse and Jaune stared off at nothing in particular. He almost jumped when both Juliet and Velvet placed a hand on either shoulder. Giving his head a shake, Jaune gave his canteen a glare. “Sorry ‘bout that. This stuff always did make me a bit too talkative. Anyway the short version for these ladies is, humanity is dead on their world. They were fighting a war against alien machines for who knows how many millenia only to find out after I show up that both the aliens and the humans were long dead.”

Team CFVY blanched as they shared a look. Humanity was  _ gone _ ? Aliens were _ real _ and only their mechanical remnants remained warring over a broken world? The mere thought chilled them all to the bone.

Velvet put on her bravest face and gave Jaune her most reassuring and heartfelt smile. “It’s alright. Are you okay?”

Grimacing, Jaune unwound a leather belt from around his waist revealing it to be attached to a satchel that had the anagram TARDIS on the front. 

“I’m fine Vel, I’m fine.” Undoing the simple clasps keeping the leather cover closed, Jaune gave her a once over before he continued, “I noticed you don’t have a weapon Vel.”

To that, the Faunus quickly popped out a foldable camera from behind her back beaming all the while. “Yes I do see? This is Anesidora. You see, by taking pictures, using hard light dust, and my semblance, it allows me to mimic the abilities of the actual weapon users.”

“I see… but how long do these images last?”

“Not long?” Velvet replied with her ears giving a nervous forward twitch.

Pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing, Jaune reached into his bag going all the way down to his shoulder. He quickly pulled out a pistol. It had a wooden grip, and a gunmetal grey construction with a revolver cylinder in the middle. He spun the gun with his finger in the trigger before offering it out to her with an outstretched hand.

Velvet hesitated and Jaune pulled it up by the barrel to give her a demonstration.

“This is the Deckard, a five shot, 5.56mm revolver.” He paused, flicked open the swing out cylinder and pulled out a speed loader from his satchel. Jamming the bullets in, he shut the revolver with a flick of his wrist causing the gun to make a low whir before a small light on it turned green. “It’s now live, and loaded with Armor Piercing rounds. Perfect for hunting big game and if you want to Grimm.” This time he forced his hand by taking hers and placing it into her palm. She blushed fiercely at the intimate gesture.

Hesitantly she took it, clutching it to her breast and all the while chewing her lower lip. “Jaune, I can’t-”

He cut her off by pressing the gun into her hands before proceeding to pull out what looked to be the tanned hide of some form of golden lizard. “You can and you will. No one in their right mind should be going out and  _ not _ carrying a sidearm.”

“Yatsu doesn’t have an extra weapon!” Velvet complained.

“My point exactly,” Jaune countered easily. “What happens if he gets disarmed? Unless his Semblance is totally broken offensively then he’s boned.” He looked at the bear expectantly.

The bear grumbled and it wasn’t him talking. What came out was quiet but strong. “My Semblance is… dangerous, but not meant for combat,” Yatsuhashi hedged.

“Elaborate,” Jaune said one word, but it came out like a command. Even a papa bear would hand over his salmon at that tone.

“Easy there Stud,” Coco rebuked, warning in both her tone and the look she was sending him with her hands on her hips, showing she was the mother bear of the group. “Remember we’re not in the Atlas military.”

The blonde saw her glare and raised the stakes by raising an eyebrow and asking “Aren’t you though? Isn’t it your job, as Hunters, to kill Grimm and protect the people regardless of Kingdom, race, or allegiances? You're basically what I was for my enlistment into the Systems Alliance.” 

“Systems Alliance?” Yatsuhashi grunted.

“Imagine a military that operates outside the atmosphere…” Their clueless expression made him grimace, and he hoped that the beat up bootleg of Starship Troopers was still in his bag somewhere so he could use that to explain it better. “Well… one of them anyway,” Jaune elaborated as easily as he could. “I kinda just dropped in and with my particular set of skills… well they fast tracked my training. You know how Atlas has their Specialists?” Seeing CFVY mutely nod he continued, “That’s basically what I was put into. They called it the N program and the ranks went from one to seven, with seven being the most dangerous and well trained.”

“You're an N7 then?” Coco noted the mark on his shoulder.

“Yes, my full designation is N7 Sentinel Paladin Jaune Arc, Spectre, and Co-Commander of the SSV2 Normandy.”

“What’s a Spectre?” Fox inquired.

“Someone with absolute authority in Council Space… as for what the Council is… think of the councils for the Kingdoms, but bigger entire planets answered to them, and the Specters answered to no one but the Council. If we deemed it necessary we could destroy an entire planet if we felt it was in the best interest of Council Space. We… Spectres I mean, answered only directly to the Council. I was the first human Biotic to ever be inducted into the Spectre ranks, if not the first human. That distinct honor went to Commander Janet ‘Jane’ Shepard.”

“Did you ever... have to… uh, wipe out a planet Stud?” Coco asked, sounding a bit leery about the prospect.

“No thank goodness. I did try to commit genocide against the equivalent of space locusts but Shepard  _ wouldn’t let me _ … she called it  _ inhumane _ . It kinda came back to bite us in the ass later too… Stupid Rachni. Fucking Reapers.” 

Sighing, Jaune got to his feet, bent his backwards to straighten his back and before speaking tiredly, “Look, it's late, we’ll talk more in the morning. Care to show me where I can crash for a bit?”

Coco sent Velvet a look, and the bunny girl all but hopped to her feet. “Follow me Jaune.”

Velvet led Jaune through their temporary home pointing out the bathroom which was really just a compost room, that had a jug of water and a bar of hand soap in it, until finally leading him to the back of the shipping container where a small bit of unused space. 

“You can sleep here,” Velvet motioned lamely to the bare floor, “Sorry we don’t have a mattress or anything for you.”

In response, Jaune reached into his satchel and pulled out a large bedroll. Undoing the bindings, he gave it a light kick unrolling it. “I think I’ll manage. Thanks Vel. Goodnight.”

Velvet smiled at him bemused as she pointed at his satchel. “Is there anything you don’t have in that thing?”

“A time machine, Jaune said without mirth. “As if I had one I’d travel back to the point where I left and stop this mess from  _ ever _ happening.”

Ears folding back on her head, Velvet locked her big eyes on Jaune’s glowing blue. 

“Jaune, you can’t blame yourself for this,” She shook her head banishing the memories of the Fall, and doing her best to banish the tears those memories brought with them. They lost so many would-be Hunters and civilians that day. Of the thirty-two teams that competed in the Vytal Festival only ten survived. 

“I’m sorry,” Jaune’s voice broke her out of her dark reverie, “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

Velvet smiled at him reassuringly, yet he could sense her pain with his aura. “Don’t worry about it, and don’t go blaming yourself about this… we’ve got enough of that here already.”

Begrudgingly, Jaune nodded. “Fine, Gwyn, take watch tonight.” He ordered this while looking behind Velvet to the androids who had followed silently behind the two hunters.

“Yes sir!” The former Commander of YorHa saluted before turning on her heel and leaving.

Now realizing she wasn’t alone in the small room with Jaune like she’d originally thought, Velvet lost her nerve to do something daring like she’d originally planned. “Well, um, I’ll see you in the morning Jaune!” She turned to go, only for the man in question to grab her wrist surprising her.

“Wait a minute, before you go, I’ve got one last present for you. First though, could I see Anesidora again?”

Velvet was clearly confused, but she nodded. “Of course.” She pulled out her weapon and presented it to him.

Holding out his left arm wrist down which was quickly subsumed by his omnitool, Jaune ordered, “Scan.” Three triangular beams of light shot forth, tracing all over the weapon before drawing back, and a singular confirming  _ beep  _ was heard. Then a 3D hologram of Aseidora appeared above Jaune’s arm and with a flick of his right hand, he took it apart, seeing its internal functions. “Open Omni Tool 2.0 Blueprint. Superimpose and combine. Run simulation.”

Velvet watched as the 3D model of her weapon was added to parts of something else, in the end becoming a fingerless forearm gauntlet that went up to the shoulder, with a glowing disk on the back of the palm. Yet Jaune was not done. “Add custom detailing.”

Jaune began sketching on the model with his finger drawing a heart around the glowing circle before proceeding to add stitches to it. 

_ ‘My emblem!’ _ the bunny girl realized with a start! She also flushed when she saw him a silver rose around the heart, what she assumed to be his emblem. It was sweet… Also, in Hunter circles combining two hunters emblems together like this was a way to signify two people were  _ involved _ . _ ‘I should tell him,’ _ Velvet told herself.  _ ‘But I don’t want to.’  _

Velvet was planning to use that weapon as fantasy fuel for later on.

He wasn’t finished yet. “ Begin digital data transfer.” 

Velvet watched in amazement as all the pictures she took with her weapon were being transferred into his strange super scroll.  _ ‘He called it an omnitool,’  _ she reminded herself.

“I’m sure you're wondering what I’m up to,” Jaune spoke conversationally, as the transfer continued. “Omnitools can do just about anything, they are micro computers, forges, hacking devices, music players, information devices and even weapon crafters all in one.” He glanced at the percentile bar above the three-dimensional blueprint. It already read ninety-percent. “The only thing omnitools cannot do is self-replicate. It's something written into their programming,” He motioned to Aseidora in his hand. “With this though, that changes. You see, your unique weapon allows for a newer, better model of an omnitool to be created bypassing the non replication law. I’ve created a working blueprint, downloaded all your pictures allowing you to recreate all your weapons… the copies will last indefinitely now by the way, since they are being recreated in an omnitools’ crucible. The only thing that’s left…” Jaune paused, “Is to create the new Omnitool… well that, and give it a name.”

“A name huh?” Velvet mused. “Well, what about Pandora? It’s from my favorite tale in Atlas as a child and about the founding of the Kingdom. According to legend, a spirit who could manipulate the elements helped Atlas’ first settlers found the Kingdom by making the ground warm and fertile. They called her the bringer of gifts. That’s why I named Aseidora what I did as the first settlers called her that, the All Gifted, or Bringer of Gifts.”

Jaune grew pensive for a moment. “Pandora, eh? Very well, it will be so. Break down composite material. Forge blueprint in crucible.”

Velvet winced a bit as she saw Aseidora get broken down into a heated molten orange goop, only for the vambrace to rise out of the molten core like some legendary weapon of myth. She saw it cool rapidly, quickly showing it was brown with brass accents, the sphere in the center glowing a bright orange. it matched her outfit perfectly, and to make it even more perfect the name Pandora was etched along the side in brass stitchwork same as her heart emblem.

“Go on Vel,” He urged, “Take it. It’s yours.”

The Faunus reached out and took the vambrace. It was cool to the touch, and she slid it over her arm. It fit like a glove and protected everything up to her elbow. It was perfect, it was a gift and it was hers! From  _ Jaune  _ of all people. 

She looked over at Juliet and Alice before she thought _ ‘Fuck it!’  _ and threw herself at the blonde warrior, knocking him down to the ground.

**(Lemon Start)**

“Commandant!” Alice stated, while Juliet remained silent but her hands at her blade. Velvet didn’t care, her eyes were staring into Jaune’s own with an intensity that made the man honestly blush a little. She was a prey animal by the standards of the animal kingdom so they stuck out enough for her light hold on him, her legs pinning his arms, her hands planted on either side of his head while her bosom heaved from excitement to hold him firmer than a ten ton concrete block.

Somehow, after what seemed like an eternity he found his voice.

“Stand down,” Jaune whispered, continuing to stare. “You know what’s going to happen so you can wait outside.”

“No,” both androids growled simultaneously.

“Let them stay,” Velvet whispered harshly, the words guttural more than anything else. She leaned down so her boobs were planted on his eyes, stealing all the light from the world and triggering an unusual fight or flight instinct from the blonde. The girl was both sexy and terrifying! “I think…” Her cute, shy side fought back as she blushed so hard Juane worried she might pass out. “... They can watch…”

Jaune was paralysed and unable to think on just how to deal with this extroverted bunny girl. It wasn’t Velvet anymore. The switch had been flipped. Horny bunny was taking over for this encounter.

All that deep thinking disappeared when the hasty bunny Faunus pulled off her top to reveal her simple white bra. Despite the plainess it had its work cut out for it keeping her breasts at bay. She pulled that clean off, actually breaking the clasp in her hurry to expose herself and fuck did she have a magnificent pair. By Jaune’s estimation, they were as big if not a bit bigger than Yang’s from what he could recall of the blonde brawler. They were capped with dime sized brown nipples and with perfect shape they matched her toned torso and that slim waist that ran down to what momma Arc would call ‘good birthing hips’ she was the image of Huntress perfection.

Jaune’s rational thoughts went out the gutter. He growled but the girl showed him no mercy. She growled right back at him, ears fully erect and somehow coming off again as both prey and predator.

“Damn, your fucking sexy,” Jaune said seriously.

“I know,” Velvet shot back, her heart racing as her breasts were moving up and down faster than a piston. The bunny took just one moment to look at the androids and what happened Jaune couldn’t see but it appeared to make both of the gynoids snarl in anger at her. He saw what it was when she looked back round. Her smile was dark, a smug smirk that made her look more sexy than any other time he’d ever known her.

It was a statement, ‘I got there first bitches!’ and Jaune could swear he could hear it in his head.

Jaune reached out to touch her breasts and Velvet allowed him, leaning forward so she could hiss at him as he was touching her sensitive nipples. She leaned back, staring into the heavens, eyes closed in glee at how the man was moulding his hands around those glorious orbs. Then something seemed to snap in her, her head flung forward to glare at the warrior when out of nowhere she got up, pulling him to his feet.

He was confused and made to ask her what was going on when Velvet shushed him with a finger on his lips and made her intentions clear. His pants were removed, his boxers coming at the same time. The androids gasped, probably because it was the first time Jaune Jr had made an appearance and he was ready for battle.

“Velvet…” Jaune hissed.

Velvet took upon the challenge by gripping his hard penis with a hand and then the fire seemed to go out as the virgin side of her realised she didn’t know what to do. She looked up at him with doe like eyes, a contrast to before and cautiously started to jerk him. A snigger from the peanut gallery fired her up as she then started pulling his dick harder up and down.

“Quiet or wait outside,” Velvet snarled at the androids before she pushed him onto his ass. She then performed a strip tease with her pants, showing off the fact she went commando and by the gods the bunny was soaked! She was needy, her legs giving way in her lust as they framed the brown hair that surrounded her unlooted treasure. She was nervous too, her balance was wobbly but something inside her seemed to egg her on and without warning the woman practically jumped on him, pushing him back and scoring a direct hit with his dick in her pussy.

Even though it was painful a little bit, the tight virgin pussy was overbearing. He pushed forward in satisfaction, embracing the girl and that was when it seemed the temptress left her as the girl held him tightly. He could  _ taste  _ her aura on his tongue and even  _ feel it  _ running wild across his skin. It both tasted and felt just like her namesake. Sweet, soft, Velvet. 

Pulling himself free of the sensation of their very souls connecting through the act of sex, he called her name. “Velvet?” Jaune asked after a bit of mutual slow rocking. Something hot was dripping onto his shoulder as she snuggled in slow, gentle thrusts. He looked up slightly to see she was crying.

“It's okay,” Velvet said, her voice poorly disguising her obviously distressed state. “I’m just so happy you came back.” Or not… Happy was certainly better than Jaune thinking she was regretting it all. 

“Sorry it took so long ‘darlin,” Jaune drawled, holding her close. He lifted her head, a moment happening between them, the world seemed to come to a crawl. Velvet looked hot even when she was crying it seemed. 

Velvet rubbed her eyes with one hand and smiled so beautifully his dick got harder somehow. Like the gods were saying ‘You treat this one good boy!’. She continued to smile, then out of nowhere pounced on him and took control of the pace.

From there, it descended into chaos.

**(Lemon End. This lemon was brought to you by the genius Heliosion)**

“We’ve got a prob-” Coco interrupted only to stare slack jawed as she found naked Bun-bun riding the blonde, her hands on her chest. She just stood there for a moment before she noticed Velvet’s glare, her nails digging into his chest. From the look alone, Coco could tell if she were a Grimm, she’d be deader than dead by now.

“ **_GGget. OOout._ ** ” Velvet hissed out slowly and with enough heat to flash melt all of the Vacou Desert into molten glass.

“Right sorry!” The leader of Team CFVY replied, turning to go only to look back and smirk, quipping, “So Bun-Bun, how was he?” She pulled the door shut just in time to avoid getting skewered by a hardlight copy of Fulcrum. Coco called through the door. “We’ve got a mess of Grimm topside! Sorry, didn’t mean to ruin your rut.”

“Fuck you Adel!” Velvet snapped.

_ ‘Wow, she really  _ **_is_ ** _ angry with me… we’ll I’d be pissed too it I got cuntblocked  _ **_during_ ** _ sex,’ _ the fashionista rationalized. 

“Did they  _ finally _ stop?” Fox asked in relief. He had what looked like a hip flask in his hand. “I don’t think I could take anymore of that.”

“Foxy don’t be rude, and neither of you better even think of embarrassing Bun-bun when she gets out here with Stud, mainly because with the mood she’s in, she’ll rip your dicks off and watch you choke to death on them.”

The two men gulped and nodded quicker than bobbleheads, while subconsciously covering their privates. The two practically held their breath when Velvet walked into the room glaring like a pissed off Beowolf followed by Jaune who looked like a Deathstalker poised to strike himself.

Her gaze sweeping through them like a laser, the usually shy Velvet snapped. Fox flinched and the bunny stole his hip flask and knocked it back until it was empty, her throat bulging from many fast, long gulps. She then wiped her lips and handed it back to a flabbergasted Fox. 

“Well?! What’s so important that you had to interrupt my _ first time _ ?!”

_ ‘Ohh! Okay, that explains a lot,’  _ Coco thought to herself. “We’ve got Grimm. I-I told you.”

“Oh, I’m  _ so sorry _ ,” Velvet said in faux-sweetness, with an equally matching fake grin accompanying it for good measure. “I was too busy thinking of the multitude of ways I was going to skewer the bitch who interrupted my first sexual encounter! I finally found enough courage to take my man before some bitches...”

“Vel,” Jaune spoke in an annoyed tone of authority, putting his hand on her shoulder as he spoke, getting her attention. “I’m not exactly thrilled either but, this is the job you signed up for when you came to Beacon.Technically, I don’t even need to go since I didn’t even complete a full year here…” Jaune trailed off. Maybe telling her he faked his way into this school before it fell wasn’t the best idea. He wondered how Velvet would feel about that once she learned of it. “I’m coming anyway though.”

Coco glanced at him from over the top of her shades. “You sure Stud?” Seeing Juliet and Alice trailing behind Jaune while fixing the back of Velvet’s head with a laser pointer glare from two of the three androids, the leader of Team CFVY asked, “Bun-Bun, you didn’t make them _ watch  _ did you?

Velvet sashayed in response, making both androids glare even harder, maybe trying to set the bunny girl on fire with their gaze. She didn’t seem to care. Sassy Velvet was manning the helm in her mind right now and it didn’t care about two, two bit ho’s who watched her rock her man’s world. 

“It’ll end quicker if I do,” Jaune said with a sigh, killing that line of questioning. Reaching into his TARDIS satchel, he pulled out a long red, white, and blue tube, which he tossed to Yatsuhashi, before he reached even deeper with his entire arm up to his shoulder disappearing into the thing before he gave a hard yank. 

He came back up with a thick heavy looking suit of futuristic yet old armor. It was mostly gunmetal grey, but had a hairless taxidermied bear's head on the left shoulder which was kept on by two bronze stars. In a couple of places there were signs of rust, and as he turned it around and presented it to the bear it showed a ventilation box on the back. 

“This,” Jaune said with no preamble, “Is a set of Power Armor. This particular set was given to me by a group called the NCR whose symbol is the bear. You put that on and you are a walking tank.” He stared at the bear hard, demanding his full attention. “However, you just need a quick crash course on how to properly use it. The only real thing you need to know is this. The suit is powered by servos that react to your movement. All you gotta do is move a little and let the suit do the work. Okay, got it? Good.”

The bear of a man blinked silently for a moment, then gave a single bow of his head. “I understand. If possible I would like to replace  _ my _ shoulder guard with the one on the armor.” He motioned to the shoulder armor.

Jaune worked at a speed only a practiced engineer could. Rapidly removing the pauldron on the power armor before placing Yatsuhashi’s green one in its place. “There, now get the damn armor on.”

Finding the release button on the back, Yatsuhashi watched as the Power Armor opened up like a Vacou oyster allowing him to duck his head under the back plate and get his arms and legs situated before the armor suddenly closed around him seamlessly leaving only his head free. Remembering Jaune’s words, he moved his leg a little and felt his entire leg rise up. 

_ ‘It is very responsive.’ _ The bear thought appreciatively. Quickly getting a feel for it and allowing his aura, the armor of his soul coating the new armament made it feel like the armor was a part of him. He then motioned to the red, white and blue tube he’d been handed earlier. “What is this?”

“I’ll explain on the way big guy. We’ve got Grimm to kill. So let’s move!”

* * *

**Word count: 8,129 Number of Pages:18** **Date Completed: 11/19/2020**

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hello again one and all and welcome back to Song of Jaune! Yeah, the second chap is done already. Yahoo! Thanks to Helios for his work on the lemon in this chapter. Next chap, Jaune gets to cut loose a bit , kill some Grimm, and we get some more plot. This was more about him catching up with people. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and until next time everyone this has been a Bubbajack, IcySnowSage, and Heliosion Production! Peace!  
> P.S. I have a Subscribe Star Account where you can read my work early if you sub for as low as a dollar.   
> It can be found here, just remove the spaces: www. Subscribestar .com/ bubbajck


	3. Ch.3: Xiaolongs and Wyverns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By: Bubbajack
> 
> Beta/Co-author: Icysnowsage and Heliosion
> 
> Disclaimer: Still don’t own shit.

Climbing up from the depths of the sewers, Jaune along with Team CFVY beheld Creatures of Grimm running rampant in the streets. From giant armored apes that were more muscle than ape, saber toothed tigers that had jaws that could devour a 4x4 with a single chomp, and of course Jaune couldn’t help but see with a grin the horde of praying mantis that were twice the height of a man, their bodies covered in a white chalk like chitin, their big bulbous eyes glowing a luminous burnt orange as they stalked the apocalyptic landscape of what had once been a bustling metropolitan centre of the entire world.

 _‘Of course, there just ‘had’ to be praying mantis Grimm. It’s the schoolhouse in Goodsprings all over again,’_ Jaune thought to himself silently bemoaning his misfortune.

“What the hell are those things?” Jaune muttered. “I’ve never seen these types of Grimm before…”

Fox and Yatsuhashi moved to engage along with a very pissed off Velvet. Meanwhile, the rearguard that consisted of himself and Coco strutted casually forward, with Coco mechashifting Gianduja from its demure handbag into an army slaughtering gatling gun, the woman who was enjoying herself way too much pointed to each Grimm type and filled him in. 

“The ape is a Beringal, very tough, pretty smart as Grimm goes too. The big fang cats are Sabyr’s, real sons of a bitches as they’re agile and have a nasty bite that trashed my old gun when I got too close to one once. The bugs? We call them Blood Zealots. Weirdly they aren’t usually found around here, at least not in these numbers. More common in Vacuo. Kill a lot of Huntsmen too because they’re so damn well armored!”

As she spoke, Yatsu had rushed forward in his new power armor, reminding Jaune of the glowing deserts and body checked a particularly ugly example of a Beringal into a wall, before decapitating it with his sword and stomping it with his foot in disgust. While Yatsu reenacted the war with Caesar, Fox just punched a pair of Sabyr’s. It was in a blink of an eye but the conclusion of that was watching them explode due to coming into intense sudden contact with his aura. The blind man then spun on his heel, pulling shit a circus acrobat would weep to be able to replicate and began dueling with a Blood Zealot, its chitin covered claws and quick jabbing motions a match to Sharp Retribution and Fox’s need to strike with his entire forearm.

The Grimm being sent back to their maker however, had never come across a pissed off Velvet Scarlatina before. With her new weapon on her arm, the rabbit Faunus materialized Coco’s gatling gun and proceeded to mow down a score of Sabyr’s, expending all of its ammo. She pouted, switching to Ruby’s Crescent Rose and flinging herself skyward with the weapons recoil and flinging the weapon into the skull of the Blood Zealot that was giving Fox so much trouble. She then materialized Manghild, and dive bombed into a group of Beringal with a rage filled roar flying from her lips. The impact sent the ape-like Grimm scattering, opening holes in their lines. She availed herself of Neptune’s Tri-Hard, and proceeded to take them apart in the confusion of their horde being pulled apart, their number advantage taken away from them. Cleaving off limbs with the guandao form, before switching to the trident she gored the last Beringal and swapped to Yang’s Ember Celica and punched it in the head, blasting its skull to giblets.

Jaune cast a sidelong glance at Coco, who watched Velvet tear through the Grimm, eyes wide, and mouth agape.

“Well, I guess, Velvet is still a bit upset huh?” Jaune quipped at the fashionista. “Do you think she’s imagining the Grimm with your face?”

That caused the ‘C’ in Team CFVY to gulp. “I hope not.”

Velvet could be heard mumbling under her breath, ‘My first time’ like a mantra it seemed to fire up her insatiable desire to murder every single Grimm in a ten mile radius. She behaved like a woman who’d been denied her prize and made her really, really aim for those places that for a man would have had him on the ground screaming in pain. Jaune felt the fury of a bunny girl scorned.

Jaune promised to finish their encounter if only to protect himself from a horny Velvet denied her fairy tail moment that was meant to be her first time.

“Should we keep going?” Yatsu said in monotone, having run out of bodies. The negative emotion was clearly drawing all the Grimm to Velvet who had plenty to spare. She was like honey to a bee as she deployed an armory of weapons to tenderize Grimm.

“Do you want to get in the middle of Velvet like _that_ ?” Fox asked. Being blind didn’t make him stupid. “We should… uh… _keep watch_! Yes! That’s it, keep watch!” His nervous suggestion was augmented by him wincing at Velvet deploying Reece’s hoverboard and using it like a blunt force instrument on an unlucky Beringal, his fangs shattered and then those sharp pieces stabbed into what would be its brain.

“Cowards,” Coco mocked, “Oi Bun-Bun!” She ducked as the noise had made the angry Velvet throw a glowing knife he was sure came from one member of CRDL, Pigeon, Dodo? Jaune couldn’t remember anymore. “Let’s _uh_ let her work her issues out on her own time!”

“No need!” Jaune said, pointing behind him. Velvet was behaving like a negative emotion nuclear power plant that had gone into meltdown, the invisible radiation of anger drawing them from the surrounding areas. “Velvet left us some to play with too. She’s really good at making new friends it seems!” Seeing a dozen or so Beowolves approaching, Jaune decided to cut loose a bit. “Finally, Grimm I _actually_ studied about!” 

His arms covered in electricity, Jaune shifted them up and raised the entire cohort of beowolves into the air, weightless under the effect of his mass effect field. Now helpless in the air, he held out his right arm, which materialized an omni-bow, and proceeded to fire into the hoard, peppering them with crossbow bolt fire, before he shot out a trio of trip mines, and let the remaining Grimm drop. Only its descent to earth caused it to set off the lasers and be consumed in the ensuing explosion.

“By the gods, where did you learn to do that!?” Coco all but demanded, her shades perilously perched on the edge of her nose at this point.

“Space pirates.” Jaune succinctly replied.

The fashion diva opened her mouth to call him on his bullshit, only to glare at him for a second. She stared at him, eyes laser like until she actually sighed in resignation. “You’re serious aren’t you?”

“Very. Juliet, Alice, Gwyn. On my six,” Jaune commanded, walking down the street heading for Beacon. 

“Where are you going, Stud?” Coco called out.

In response, Jaune nodded towards the petrified Wyvern that even from here, loomed over all of Vale, casting a dark shadow over the once prosperous kingdom. It stained what should have been a beautiful sight seeing spot, a view of the magnificent achievements of mankind, a monument to its glories and accomplishments. Instead, _it_ stood there, a statue of fear that no longer deserved to exist, looming over to remind everyone that its kind had scarred this land where it did not belong. 

“I’m cutting the head off the snake. Cover me.”

 _‘He’s insane,’_ Coco thought to herself, yet she couldn’t stop the smirk from forming on her face. Crazy sons of a bitches were a turn on. An explosion nearby reminded her that Velvet had put her flag down on that claim and the fact she was _gay_ put the nail in that coffin. Well, she mused, the man could look good in a dress maybe? “You’d better come back alive, cause if you don’t…” Behind her, an extremely frustrated Velvet had just emptied a magazine of grenades from a Magnild hard-light construct. “Velvet will kill the lot of us!”

Jaune just laughed and gave her a thumbs up as he walked away, tossing the occasional Grimm through a building with what Coco could only assume was his semblance as he went. All the while she was silently wishing him luck as she laid into the horde of Grimm, providing her team with suppressive fire.

“Well,” Jaune mused humorously, “I wouldn’t want to keep a lady waiting.”

* * *

The path to the Wyvern was arduous. That was the best word Jaune had for it. For every Grimm he and his team sent back to whatever pit they crawled out of, four more took their place. Dentist needing Sabyrs, big, ugly Ursa, the giant elephant looking bastards that he also didn’t know the names of… Sweet, nostalgia inducing Nevermores the size of tanker trucks swooped around where the lost skyscrapers didn’t inhibit their flight path. They were dealt with of course, the closer they got to the former CCT Tower the more numerous and bigger the Grimm became. It was like a who's who of the ugly buggers all hanging around to get a free trip to oblivion. 

Finally, one Ursa with no sense of self preservation got close enough to bite his sleeve, Jaune had had enough. Letting out a sigh as Alice had finished stabbing a Sabyr to death with one of its own fangs, Jaune ordered, “Stand back.” The androids didn’t need telling twice. They recognized that tone. Holding out his hand, with his arm raised toward the enemies of man. They were about to be reduced to the bugs they were. **“Firaga!”**

An inferno bloomed from Jaune’s glowing hand, a blooming fire of burning death with tongues of orange and yellow fire lashing out, licking and consuming the tasty morsel that were the Grimm in their path. The corpse of a hulking Nevermore fell from the skies, wings burning like Icarus of old. The numerous Beowolves were charred husks, frozen in time for just a heartbeat before being blown away by a sudden wind. To add to the apocalyptic scene even the smarter than average Goliath, its face scorched black and its size the only reason it hadn’t vanished instantly remained long enough for Jaune to take note of the fact one of its tusks was cleanly blasted off and forced to take a knee due to the wounds it had sustained.

Juliet, the warriorress that she was, was quick to finish it off, leaping upwards towards it and drawing her massive blade Leone. In mid-flight like a demented windmill she spun her entire body 720 degrees for extra momentum, bringing her whole weight down on the beast’s neck loping its head clean off. It turned to dust by the time she landed on her feet.

“Nice job Juliet,” Jaune complimented as he fixed his gaze heavenward at the frozen Wyvern. The big bastard was stuck in place, mocking the world with its existence. It made his blood boil as his ‘energetic stroll’ had found him at his destination, the mausoleum, ground zero, the place where it all started to crap out that had been Beacon Academy. Jaune had arrived and there waiting to greet him was the front lawn, a ghost town with equally cloudy memories like lost spirits loitering when it had once been a thriving centre for the defence of mankind was now just ruin and decay. Tearing himself away from the echoes of another life, the Sith could get an almost idyllic view of the bastard who’d helped commit this atrocity. The Grimm seemed to be leaking black viscous liquid from its shoulders right up around its neck where cracks had formed in its stoney prison. Yep, that wasn’t a good sign… probably? He wasn’t an expert on monsters and their good looks. “We need to hurry. No more time to waste.” He gestured with his hands. The girls looked at him weird. He did the gesture more insistently and yet again the girls stared at him like he was trying to dance naked in the street. “ _Girls_ , we discussed this back in the bar.” It did take another couple of seconds but with a metaphorical lightbulb switching on they all gathered into a bear hug before covering himself in a mass effect field and leaping up to the top of what remained of the derelict CCT Tower.

Alighting on the tower’s peak, Jaune and his companions were now within spitting distance of the Wyvern in all its menacing glory so the guy did with disgust, scoring ten points on its snout. Ten times taller than a man, covered in spines along its back and tail, with a set of horns jutting from behind its serpentine skull, and its bony ribs clearly visible on its chest. Just being this close to such a creature of Grimm made Jaune jittery… with anticipation! 

_‘Finally! I can bring an end to this mess!’_ Jaune was contemplative. _‘Why Ruby didn’t do it before leaving is beyond me?’_ He thought as a scowl unconsciously spreading itself across his face beneath his mask. Jaune thought she wanted to be a Huntress, a _hero_ . She never shut up about it in the library, class, the swimming pool… Okay, his mind was going off track. Let’s just say Ruby was a fan of the idea. Yet, at the first sign of a city needing one of those she left the already ravaged people of Vale to fend for themselves from an unending horde of Grimm to go off and chase this Cinder person. While he personally believed that only by personally overcoming adversity that one could grow strong, and only by _becoming_ strong, could one have _true_ freedom, he believed that on a personal, very individual level. He also believed in using that hard gained strength to protect those who could not do it themselves. In that regard, Ruby failed, not only as a leader, but as a Hunter. 

For it was a Hunter’s duty to protect others and that was the Philosophy of the Sith. Which he adhered to, more or less. 

Hand drifting towards his main sword, he thought to himself. _‘Peace is a lie, there is only Passion.’_

That is true, everyone was passionate about something, be it a person, the attainment of a goal, or something of that nature. Once one achieves their goal, they set a new one, always seeking higher heights.

_‘Through Passion, I gain Strength.’_

This too, he viewed as correct. For one’s passions could make one strong, or _become_ one’s strength. Using a biotic field, Jaune snapped his auxiliary blades onto the main blade.

_‘Through Strength I gain Victory.’_

Self explanatory really, the strongest opponent wins. Strength however comes in many forms. More than just physical might. A clever opponent could defeat one who thinks only with the muscles of his arm. While a wise opponent needn’t fight at all. Simply leading their foes to their own doom by using their faults against them, be it anger, vanity, playing on their fears, trumping up their overconfidence, or hubris. Jaune Arc could do all three. 

_‘Through Victory, my chains are Broken.’_ He continued this as he finished creating his Buster sword, and leaned it against his shoulder as he stood in front of the ‘bleeding’ statue. _‘I am about to free Vale from your chains of fear Grimm,’ Jaune_ thought determinedly as he channeled his anger.

His moment of reflection was broken by the _annoyance_.

 **_“Good, good, my Wrath, fuel your anger, use the darkness within you,”_ ** an elderly yet elegant baritone commanded from behind him.

“Fuck off Vitiate, I’m busy,” Jaune said under his breath. “If I can’t kill you then then the least I can do is contain you for now. Also, could you be a dear and tell the other Force Ghosts I’m busy? I don’t really have the time to hang up a do not disturb sign in my head at the moment.”

 **_“...”_ ** There was a long tense silence before Darth Vitiate, also known as the Sith Emperor spoke again. **_“I shall let them know Wrath, but do not mistake me for an errand droid Darth Imperius.”_ **

“You're living in my head, rent free I might add! I _consider you_ a squatter. So either find a way to be useful or get the fuck... Ow!” Jaune retorted only to yelp when Juliet pinched his arm.

“Apologies sir, but you told me to do that if you ever started talking to yourself if you recall?” the android said in a flat monotone.

He gave the Android a nod of appreciation. He did say that once? Damn android and her computer memory. “Geez, _thanks_ Julie. Now,” Jaune started, drawing out the last one of his opening line, showing he was trying to get back on the very important matter he’d climbed a perilously stable skyscraper for, “We were killing a giant flying lizard right?”

Alice punched her gauntlet covered fists together, causing sparks to fly from the impact. Jaune didn’t need to see her face to know she was grinning like a kid offered cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner. “Yeah! Let’s kick its fucking ass!”

Yet before any action could be taken, the atmosphere froze, everyone wincing out of instinct as a loud crack echoed through the air, swiftly followed by another, the two converging in the middle to add more foreboding to the unnatural sound and both to add more oil to the fire coming from the shoulders of the Wyvern. Black ichor gushed out of grey stone like a geyser, staining the ground with onyx colored tar. Then, like newborn baby birds poking their way free from their eggshells, the stone shell fell away revealing two extra wyvern heads. They released a birthing cry that was followed by arcs of golden lightning trying to pierce the heavens coming from their maws.

“SCATTER!” Jaune cried out as torrents of lightning swept amongst them as the extra heads took notice of them. He somersaulted back, using Deschain to both absorb and deflect lightning bolts that came too close to his person. As the necks thrashed, more and more stone fell off the body of the Wyvern, until its whole body, including the original head was free. “I deserve that for taking my sweet time I guess.”

Jaune’s pronouncement was drowned out as the center head released a cry of freedom before snapping at Juliet. Juliet both parried and then swung at its neck with Leone, her hefty greatsword with a lion motif. Her roar of achievement was blunted as it clanged off the bone plate that covered the top half of the Wyvern’s skull, and forced Jaune to pull her back using a biotic field before she could be torn asunder by the Grimm’s powerful jaws. 

Pulling her into his arms, he called out, “New plan! _New plan!_ Alice, you, Gwyn and Juliet will run interference. Keep the heads busy while I charge up a Limit Break!”

“Understood!” A2 replied before she rushed the center head, her cestus covered hands reared back before she punched it in the snout, sending it rearing back and cracking its bone plating. 

Not to be outdone, Gwyn clicked a button hidden in the handle of her saber, and a small six inch barrel revealed itself, unfolding from her saber’s bell guard. Looping her finger around a trigger, her sword belted forth with a continuous thunderous aplomb of depleted uranium armor piercing shotgun slugs, being loaded and fired from a drum magazine that was hidden within the confines of the saber guard itself. 

Through her swift actions, the head on the left was kept at bay, for now.

The head on the right rightfully took offence at the duck hunt its left brother was reenacting and sent its complaints via the medium of a charged up lightning bolt within its jaws. Its complaints were filed as spam or if you dropped the analogy a beam of pure energy to strike it in the side of the face, causing the projectile to fly off into the heavens, and pierce the overcast sky.

Jaune thought the moon still looked really crappy. 

“Pod?” Juliet asked, surprised by its sudden actions. For the grey pod floating over her shoulder had fired a blast at the Grimm without her prompting.

“The Commandant has spoken,” Pod 062 rebuffed lightly, “We have our orders unit 2B. Let’s get to it! Unless of course… you wish to be tried for insubordination? I’m _certain_ the Commandant could come up with some… interesting punishments.”

The Android couldn’t help but flush at her Pod’s innuendo, another thing the damn thing wasn’t programmed to do. She didn’t even think Pod had a personality yet here it was, proving her wrong… _Yay_... Drawing Leone from her back she rushed the final head, with her freestyling Pod providing her covering fire. She swung her blade in an upward arc, somersaulting to add some more oomph to the way it whacked it on the chin, and causing her opponent to rear back in a snakelike manner before hissing at her threateningly. She raised an eyebrow as it started snapping at her again. Yet, the YorHa Android hopped back and out of the way of the attack, and then smashed her blade into the side of the Wyvern’s face.

Her moment of glory was gate crashed by a crescent shaped beam of yellow energy that flashed out and sliced deep into the Wyvern’s stomach, causing it to bleed more dark ichor.

In response, the grievous wound seemed to turn on the tension. The Grimm beat its blood red batlike wings, stirring up a gale and blasting the heroes back, before a roar filled with rage loosened from the Grimm’s throat. The decibels involved were so intense that particles of masonry visibly rippled and Jaune was made to step back slightly, riding the wave to a safer position to avoid losing his hearing.

 **_“Enough!”_ ** Much to everyone’s shock, the center of the three heads spoke, head turned to the side, so he could fix his crimson gaze on Jaune and his companions. **_“Human, you though not possessing the Cursed Eyes of Silver, have wounded I, the Great Ghidorah.”_ **

Jaune’s response was eloquent. “You can talk?!” Well, talking was stretching it. It was like a neanderthal talking, all harsh and straight to the point like it wasn’t its first language.

 **_“Yes, I am Ghidorah! My wings are a hurricane!_ ** **_My bones plate like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail is a thunderbolt, and my breath death!”_ **The Wyvern flapped its wings and smashed its tail against the side of the CCT Tower as it spoke, with the two side heads shooting off beams of lightning into the sky.

 _Wonderful_ , it sounded like an MC announcing a wrestling contest.

“Okay, _Great_ Ghidorah then how are you speaking?!” Jaune lowered his weapon if only a little to continue this conversation. “I didn’t know you even could,” he added under his breath.

The Grimm preened under the praise. Jaune sighed. Pride too? This day was just being weird now. **_“I was one of the first. Created by our Father, in his image, before his departure. My purpose is to hunt and ravage your kind. To test, and challenge you.”_ **

One word of that already outrageous statement stuck out.

“Your _Father_?”

The main head growled, **_“Yes, he left long ago…”_ ** All three heads looked towards the shattered moon that was peeking through the cloud cover, and Ghidorah seemed to speak to himself alone as he continued. Juane wondered if the ruined celestial body had something to do with this thing. His musing was answered right away. **_“Shattered the moon when he left us… others chose to follow the Usurper… the one the others call ‘Mother’.”_ ** He spat the word like an acrid poison, **_“Yet not us! We, the first creations of our Father refuse to bend to the whim or will of that Waif, thus we slept waiting for his return…”_ ** The heads bent low to regard Jaune, “ **_Yet I awoke, and was entombed by the Chosen of Father’s Brother.”_ ** The middle head regarded Jaune with an appraising look, **_“Then you human, wounded me. I, the Great Ghidorah, who exist as a living calamity to Man. Perhaps the time draws near, and my purpose as well...”_ **

“What purpose?” Jaune inquired hesitantly, getting a bad feeling in his gut and tightening his grip on Deschain. Somehow, the warrior was thinking the Grimm wasn’t talking about saving the world and buying everyone ice cream.

The heads on either side began to spark with electricity as the clouds themselves began to roar in protest, and flashes of white lightning arced across the sky with the growing power of this Grimm. **_“To challenge the race of Man, let us see if you can overcome I! The Great Ghidorah!”_ **

“Why couldn’t my sarcasm be right for once?” Jaune moaned, preparing for battle.

Lightning streamed forth from all three mouths and fell from the heavens as Ghidorah launched his assault. The three-headed Wyvern clawed his way forward on taloned tipped wings, jaws snapping like vipers as lightning fell from the heavens, attempting to strike the group before him down.

Jaune danced amongst the lightning bolts, his greatsword swirling around him, deflecting an errant bolt as he neared the central head, and leaped towards it with a somersault. Lashing out with his blade he managed to lop off the left horn on the talkative head, before jumping through the jaws of the right head before they could snap shut on him. 

Ghidorah’s response? His wings _flapped_ , kicking up another gale and throwing him and the androids off the roof of the CCT Tower like a hurricane had taken up residence. Using the width of his greatsword as a shield to hide his face from debris, Jaune absorbed the impact and rolled to his feet, with Juliet, Alice, and Gwyn landing next to him, utilizing their Pods as landing gear, or in Gwyn’s case a few well placed shotgun blasts to soften her landing.

The Wyvern landed with a thud kicking up a cloud of dust as he did so, only for it to be blown away by a gust of wind. From the ichor that covered the courtyard, Grimm arose. Beowolves, Blood Zealots, Ursai, and flocks of small Nevermore clawed their way out of the tar like they were birthing pools. 

‘Why couldn’t it be a stork or something?’ Jaune thought, moaning. He did not want to see Grimm reproduction thank you very much. He could only compare it to the time he stumbled into an alley and saw a pair of Trandoshans going at it.

The three heads grinned in vicious victory. **_“What will you do now Human? Can you take I, the Great Ghidorah alone and unaided?”_ **

“A giant three headed Grimm with an ego the size of its body? So that’s how you want it huh?” Jaune threw his arms out, showing enormous power in his arms by the way his sword didn’t even shake to make a dramatic sighing gesture. “Fine, you could’ve just said so! Juliet, Alice, Gwynevere, handle the rabble, I’m gonna slay me a dragon.” Jaune ordered before he charged the giant lizard. A pulse of purple light flared from the dragon, and Jaune felt like he had two tons worth of weight on his back, and he was walking through quicksand as Ghidorah charged his lightning breath with all three heads. Jaune grimaced, it took him a minute to figure out what was going on.

 _‘Is he using Gravity Dust or something? Damn, should have paid attention in class more! The slimy bastard.’_ Holding out his left hand he called out, **_“Time Stop! Haste!”_**

The dragon froze, mid stream, and Jaune’s second spell, cancelled out the power of the Gravity Dust, giving him enough time to roll out of the way, just as bolts of pure power surged past him. He was fed up with being in a shooting gallery. Roll up! Hit the target and get a prize! It was time to change the game or just cheat! He decided it was time to stop playing to its tune and started a guitar riff of his own. Taking the hollow blade off of Deschain, he switched to the Ataru stance and flipped towards his foe, wielding a blade in both hands as he slashed with both blades at the neck of the leftmost head. He bounced off its leg and repeated the move and then again only on the other side. With a liberal addition of a scaly forehead to mix up the beat his efforts eventually began gouging a deep X into its hide before out of nowhere the Grimm got lucky and Jaune found himself being flung backwards by the thrashing of the head.

“Commandant?!” He heard Juliet yell in worry from behind him.

“I’m fine Julie, don’t worry.” Jaune replied, flipping to his feet. “Reminds me of the time I fell through the atmosphere.”

“You died though sir?”

“Meh, details,” the man said without caring. He got the sweet upgrades because of that! So he had to die first… On second thoughts was that healthy?

The voice of Darth Vitiate echoed through his head, chastising him out of his lack of issue with being killed and then coming back from death. “Fool, if you hadn’t cut yourself off from the Force, you’d have seen that attack coming!” 

Were they really going to have this argument again? Right now? Seriously? Could he please be allowed to focus on the three headed lightning firing monster first?

“Can’t risk it.” Jaune grunted. “Too dangerous.”

“You are the _Sith’ari_ , Darth Imperius!” Vitiate retorted, “You were the Sith strong enough to be named my Wrath, to best not one, but two members of the Dark Council, as well as myself! You need fear nothing! The power is yours! Just reach out and take it!”

Doing another somersault, with Deschain held in front of him spinning like a buzzsaw, he sliced at the snout of the wounded head once, twice, three times... On the fourth rotation, he started to glow with the golden power of his semblance, and was preparing to unleash a Braver, only to be smacked harshly down to earth by Ghidorah’s tail. It really did feel like a thunderbolt, a bitch slap worthy of every estranged woman he’d ever pissed off. Jaune felt himself bouncing off the stone of the courtyard and rolled onto his back, Deschain held weakly in his hand.

“Ouch,” Jaune deadpanned.

“Need I repeat myself Lord Imperius?” Vitiate drawled. He was enjoying this way too much for a psychic hobo!

Sitting in a kneeling position on the back of his heels, Jaune growled out, “Okay fine, cover me before I recover from my concussion for agreeing to this!”

In simultaneous flashes of light, six blue-white force ghosts appeared around their master, weapons on their hips, ready to make something extinct.

Standing at the head was an elderly human wearing a regal full beard, wearing full plate armor. He was tall, stately and the power wafting off his spirit dwarfed the rest. He was Sith Emperor, and Emperor of the Eternal Empire, Darth Vitiate.

At Vitiate’s right was a masculine figure covered head to toe in armor. A hooded and masked helmet covered his face, thick armor enshrouded his body, and a thick bracer covered his left arm. This was Tulok Hord, the greatest Sith Warrior to ever live.

On Vitiate’s left was a withered old man, covered in cloak and hood, his face lined with age, yet even as a spirit, his ghost cracked with power. The Ghost of Darth Andru looked annoyed.

To the left of Tulok Hord was Horak-Mul, Sith Pureblood, right hand of Luddo Kresh and main rival of Naga Sadow before the Great Hyperspace War. Standing tall with a prosthetic left eye and his hair tied behind his head, while a beard of tentacles descended from his chin that were bedecked with rings, while his armor would have been of solid brass had he been alive.

On the right of Darth Andru was Sith Lord Ergast. He was a short man of slender build but it was he who originally developed the Force Walk ability, which Jaune had used to great effect.

To the left of Horak-Mul stood Kalatosh Zavaros, former Jedi Revanchist turned Sith when Darth Revan returned and wrought havoc upon the Republic, and ancestor to his apprentice Ashara. He stood tall and defiant in the face of the three headed Wyvern, his Montrail adding an extra foot to his height while his blue and white lekku trailed down to his chest.

Lastly to the right of Ergast, was Voss Mystic Mar-Da. Unlike the other Force Ghosts, his body and form was covered in a golden glow, his robes and mask too, were constituted of the same aurum hued energy. 

The band was back together now for a reunion tour.

“All together now,” the Emperor said, speaking in a calm almost grandfatherly tone, but there was an undercurrent of steel in it that made it obvious there was no option but to obey as Vitiate’s arms cracked with force lightning. Like a true emperor indeed.

The others soon followed suit, and Ghidorah was pushed back slightly as the blast hit him, yet he roared in defiance as lightning gathered in his maws, and he loosened his own torrents of power seeking to match the Sith ghosts in a duel of power. Thus, the groups remained deadlocked. Yet it was just what Jaune wanted, and needed as he closed his eyes and with legs crossed, and Deschain in his lap, he focused on reestablishing his connection to the Force.

To do so he once again reiterated the Sith Code, and what it meant to him. _‘Peace is a lie. There is only Passion.’_

Jaune’s primary passions were keeping those around him alive, no matter the cost to himself. Helping who he could, while he could, and living up to the legacies bestowed to him.

_‘Through Passion, I gain Strength.’_

It was through these passions, these very desires, that he gained strength to further protect.

_‘Through Strength I gain Power.’_

It was with power be it influence, command, or personal power, that he could protect and defend even more people, thousands of which would never see his face, or meet him personally, but that was fine. He just wanted to help. It was those that got in his way, that killed those he sought to protect that riled his anger. Loss became anger and hate, which pushed him ever further.

_‘Through Power I gain Victory.’_

Power led to victory. Victory led to safety. Not for him, _never_ for him. There was always another, stronger, enemy to fight. Yet that was fine. For he was the bulwark, and he protected those that stood behind him. 

_‘Through Victory my chains are Broken.’_

He agreed wholeheartedly Through victory, those he cared about and sought to protect couldn’t come to harm, and by gaining enough strength and through them victories, his enemies would hesitate or even refuse to fight him. Thus ending the need for conflict. However, Jaune himself felt a need, an urge to fight. To protect his bonds he’d forged.

_‘The Force shall free me.’_

Ah, the Force, unity and harmony with it was the ultimate goal of the Jedi, and bending it to their supposed will made it the most powerful tool of the Sith. The beginning, and end of life. He hated it. He _hated_ the Force. The fact that all danced to its will that destiny was dictated by it, that even death, and the idea of the afterlife was, in the end; a meaningless idea due to it. Yet that very same hatred was the source of his strength. His path to power, his means of victory, and way of breaking his chains and overcoming all prior limitations.

As his anger grew, the wind picked up, and the lightning’s hue became a deep violet, before turning to red streaked with black. His skin became waxen, allowing the veins around his mouth, eyes, and forehead to pop out, while the color of his eyes changed from their normal blue hue to sulfuric yellow, then settled on an orange ringed with red.

His connection to the Force reforged, Jaune took up Deschain from his lap before he stood. The Grimm, sensing a great deal of hate and rage in the vicinity, all stopped and turned to stare at the Sith Lord reborn, even the ones who were fighting the Androids.

The so called badass Grimm were looking at a real badass!

Juliet cut through her enemy who suddenly stopped paying attention with Virtuous Contract, her ivory white katana easily taking off its head unawares. Seeing none of the Grimm paying her or her compatriots any mind however caused B2 to look for the source. Seeing the commandant kneeling in the battlefield, with no less than eight… were her eyes deceiving her or were those ghosts throwing lightning and matching the power of that Grimm? Yet she watched as the Commandant calmly stood, his greatsword in hand, which slowly began to grow cherry red as lightning crackled from Jaune’s hand and entered the weapon superheating it’s blade.

“Jaune?” She called worriedly. She’d never in her short time knowing him seen this side of him before.

“2B,” Jaune spoke commandingly, flicking his gaze to her, showing an eerie orange light through the telescopic eye holes of his mask. “Hold the line.”

“Yes sir!” The Android affirmed before she went back to hacking the Grimm apart with both katana and greatsword while her Pod backed her with fire support.

Jaune, meanwhile, had returned his attention to Ghidorah. The Wyvern was wounded yes but far from beaten. Yet as if sensing the sudden surge of power from his opponent, Ghidorah broke off its stalemate with the Force Ghosts and took to the skies, buffeting its foes back with gusts of wind. Now, airborne, Ghidorah unleashed torrents of yellow lightning to cover his ascent. 

Jaune however, was having none of it. Not after all the shit that he had to go through to get here. 

_‘You are ‘not’ getting away!’_ The Darth thought to himself as he leapt at the Wyvern using both the Force and a mass effect field to send himself rocketing after the beast who was rapidly gaining altitude. He stabbed his superheated blade into the bone plate covered point of Ghidorah’s tail. The Grimm roared in pain as it took off towards the forests surrounding Beacon Academy. Ghidorah swooped low over the canopy dragging his tail through the branches in the hopes of dislodging his foe. _‘This… Is… Not… Good.’_ Jaune’s thoughts were interrupted every time he went bodily through both tree branches and even entire trunks, spitting out leaves and wood chips as he went through yet another tree trunk. He could both feel and see the Shield Vigor he kept up around his person beginning to fail. A pale yellow glass appeared around his body and began to fracture and crack, before shattering completely, forcing him to rely upon his aura to protect him. Unlike with the vigor shield, he still felt the pain from the impacts through his aura. That’s why he preferred his shields no feedback. Going through another tree he thought. _‘Right this needs to stop. I can feel through the Force that if I don’t kill this bastard, he’ll just make things worse, especially now that he’s free.’_

Knowing he needed to end this now, Jaune popped the side blades off of his greatsword, the blonde Sith used them as makeshift climbing picks. Stabbing the red hot blades into the tail, he proceeded to slowly climb his foe. With every foot he gained however, Ghidorah let out a roar of pain and annoyance. He knew damn well Jaune was still there, and decided to do something about it. 

Jaune had just reached the base of the tail when Ghidorah ground his back against the cliff face, trying to shake the stubborn Hunter loose like the annoying tick he was. Yet all he managed to do was fuel the Sith Lord’s anger which in turn granted him greater strength. Releasing a defiant roar, Jaune used the Force to fling himself forwards in a mighty jump using the side blades as a springboard. The scent of burnt and melting rubber from the soles of his boots reached his nose as he flung himself up to Ghidora’s mid back. Drawing his guns in mid-air, Jaune fired them at the back of the Wyvern's head. 

They plinked off ineffectively but he had to do something. All but ruining his boots by using the back blades as another platform, Jaune channeled his anger into another Limit Break. His sword now covered in a golden aura he stabbed it into the back of the colossal grim as he charged, dragging it’s edge along the ground and leaving a blazing trail in his wake. His reward was a prolonged cry of pain from the intelligent beast as he neared the leftmost head. Then, reaching out with both the Force and aided by his biotics he smashed the heads together like some kind of slapstick comedy routine.

The entire body of the Grimm shuddered and halted briefly for a moment when he did that, Jaune got a feeling, which gave him an idea. Taking what remained of his greatsword, Jaune flung it into the neck of the far left head. It let out a cry of agony as the Force Lightning infused weapon pierced the back of its neck, at which point, it exploded with eldritch lighting releasing its stored up payload of darkside energy. 

Gold and red flecked lightning burst through the neck of the Grimm, lighting it up like the Lucky Thirty-Eight on the New Vegas Strip however briefly before it slumped over and fell off, dismembered. The entire left side of the body sagged as if the grimm suddenly had a stroke and Ghidora proceeded to spiral out of the air with only one side of his body working. 

His feeling correct, the Sith drew his blade back to him with the Force before using a mass effect field to leap towards the left wing. He rammed his blade into the bottom of the wing joint, causing the appendage to catch the downdraft as he forced the behemoth of a Grimm towards the ocean. By the time Ghidora had regained control of his faculties, the two of them were out at sea, and Jaune put the second part of his plan into action.

Or he tried anyway. For Ghidorah bucked like a bucking bronco on energy drinks and sent him flying into the air before turning onto his back and firing two torrents of lightning at him from his two remaining jaws. 

“Why won’t you go extinct already!?” Jaune said in frustration as he crossed his arms over his face and shouted, **_“Shield!”_ **

A magic barrier appeared in front of Jaune tanking the lighting for him, as he freefell towards the now two-headed Wyvern. The two had just reached the shores of Patch, the man getting an excellent view of it from his airborne position as Jaune and Ghidorah continued their aerial duel. 

Jaune used a mass effect field combined with the Force to fling himself at the Grimm with the power of a bullet. He slammed into his chest, the main and hollow blades of Deschain biting deep into Gidhorah’s hide and sending them both rocketing over the island. Jaune suddenly found himself flanked on either side by Gidhorah’s remaining heads as they sparked with lightning. Turning Deschain’s blade to the side, he stood on it and held out both hands out to the side as the bolts came in. The moment they touched his palms, the lightning was converted into pure Force energy through use of a skill known as _Tutaminis_. Over a matter of a few precious seconds this excess force power continued to build within him to the point where he felt like a dam whose levies were about to break.

Then, he forced blue crystals that a native of this dimension might mistake for ice dust to sprout along the black and sides of his palms. They arced with electricity and soon red sith lightning joined them, before he shouted **_“Thundaga!”_ **

Multihued lightning suddenly burst forth and consumed the heads of the Grimm, a pale-white flash lit up the sky in the process, and when it passed, the bone plates were charred, broken, and scorched, while both necks were missing chunks of flesh as what remained sizzled in the chill winter air like a really bad barbecue where the chef was both blind and couldn’t smell shit.

 **_“DIE!”_ ** Both heads roared at the same time, as instead of lightning, this time shards of ice spewed forth from their jaws. 

“Nobody likes it when people break character!” Jaune muttered as he let loose with another torrent of Sith lightning at the left head. The sparks jumped from shard to shard of ice, glittering like evil jewellery before leaping down the Wyvern’s throat. The throat bulged, like a child being forced to eat his vegetables as did the left side, before it exploded in a spray of crimson… whatever the insides of Grimm are made of. That left only the stubborn talkative central head as the two plummeted towards the ground.

Forcing his rage and his aura into Deschain one last time Jaune lashed out with fifteen consecutive near simultaneous strikes as he fell from the skies. The neck, the head, the last remaining wing, the legs, the tail, none were spared the wrath of omnislash. Even as he carved away at him, Ghidorah released a flash of hot flame like a volcano erupting. Jaune didn’t bother trying to block or evade it, the power granted from the darkside by his pain would make sure he survived, if nothing else. Instead he kept hacking away at his foe using the Force to pull himself through the flames and ignoring the smell of burning meat in his nose, as he aimed the final swing at Ghidorah’s neck…

 _‘Die you already you big bastard!’_ Jaune thought as he swung the main blade of Deschain with both hands, and cleaved through the last neck of Ghidorah. “Yes finally! Now you better not pull any phoenix down bullshit shit on me! That’s my thing!” Jaune added as the adrenaline overtook his senses. As the final head fell in seeming slow motion, it locked eyes with its slayer and spoke.

**_“You have bested I, the Great Ghidorah human, well done! Yet know that by slaying me, you have sent out a call to the rest of my brethren. They shall come seeking humanity, feeling that, with the death of one of us, the time of Testing is at hand, and the return of our Father shall be soon in coming. Prepare yourself. For I was just the first.”_ **

Then, the entire body exploded into a cloud of black smoke which Jaune fell through coughing, never noticing his mask flying off during the fight yet it was only now, when he needed it and didn’t have it. 

“Why do I never get to say the last word on anything you damn lizard!” Jaune waved his fist menacingly at the monster he’d just killed. “And what do you mean when you say you the first…” His now orange and red ringed eyes widened even further when he saw he was about to plow face first through the roof of a log cabin. He didn’t even have time to scream or swear before he smashed face first through the roof then the second floor, and then finally coming to a stop with a sickening crunch as he rolled amidst wood and debris.

Jaune rolled onto his back, covered in burns and cuts, his aura having failed him at some point near the end of the fight. Jerking his head to the right, he narrowly avoided being beheaded by the hollow blade of his own weapon. In the distance he heard some dull thunks, likely signifying his other weapons landed nearby.

_‘Great, I have to find my weapons… which scattered in mid air… Oh and it's dark… I’m wounded… Damn it… brain… sarcasm isn’t helping!’_

Then he heard someone coming downstairs rather clumsily even as someone else flung a door open.

“Yang are you-?!” An older male voice called out worriedly. 

“I’m fine dad, something crashed clean through the roof.”

 _‘Oh, you’ve ‘got’ to be kidding me.’_ Jaune thought despite the pain he was in, he started laughing.

Soon his vision was covered by a halo of messy blonde hair and concerned lilac eyes.

“I... man what happened to you?” Yang Xiao Long asked, looking down at him in concern, with one hand over her mouth. Jaune noticed the other arm was missing above the elbow.

His sarcasm gave up there as he smiled up at her. “It’s been awhile Yang, how ya been?”

Yang stiffened. She recognized that voice, it haunted her little sister's dreams for months and in a retroactive way, kept her up at night as she soothed her nightmares. Yang was on her knees by his side in seconds. Propping his head up on her lap, she said gently. “Vomit boy?”

“Hey, I feel like shit,” Raising his left arm he spoke. “EDI?”

The gauntlet lit up and was covered in an orange hologram of a larger gauntlet as a cone topped with a sphere appeared, before a feminine mechanical voice spoke, “Yes Jaune?”

“Release an Omni-gel drone and tracker drone. Send the tracker drone to Team CFVY and the others.”

“Can do Jaune, rest easy,” EdI replied as two spherical drones popped into existence one floated out of the hole in the ceiling while the other began spraying Jaune with some sort of orange gel.

“Great~t! I’m gonna pass out now,” the blonde said with a smile on his face as his consciousness faded. His last words were of what had been interrupted earlier and he smirked as the dying embers of thought left his wounded mind. _‘Bunny girl… Sweet!’_

* * *

**Number of Words: 8,430 Number of Pages: 17 Date Completed: 12/18/2020**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hello one and all and welcome to Song of Jaune Ch.3! This will be the last chapter I put out before I take a one month Hiatus due to CyberPunk 2077 coming out. So till then everyone enjoy Night City and remember… Fuck the Corpos!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello one and all and Welcome to my second and hopefully better attempted at a RWBY fic! As I’m sure you’ve guessed already, Jaune is Out Of Character. Jaune is also due to virtue of experience and tech at his disposal, Over Powered. But fear not loyal readers! For I absolutely hate curb stomping! So with new powers come new (old for Jaune?) enemies that will even out the scales, but this’ll be a gradual addition. This would usually be the part where I hand over the mic to Snowy and Heliosion who’ve both been helping me on this project, but both were unable to be reached for comment at this time.   
> That said, till next time everyone, This has been a Bubbajack, Heliosion, and Icysnowsage Production! Peace!


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